Eternal Love Blooms
by Valamon
Summary: Re-written version. A little town has several changes coming to it, among these is an unexpected friendship between a Mega Viral and a human female teenager. Please feel free to leave a review, even it's just to say how you feel about the story. Critiques are very welcome. Suggestions for later chapters are also welcome, as it's a re-do, things have been changed.
1. A Chance Meeting

The late afternoon found a lone Mega Viral Digimon standing outside a small human town, glaring down several bulldozers from atop a nearby hill.

The ground around the machinery was completely overturned, leaving nothing but mounds of chocolate brown soil exposed to the air; no sign of the quaint little shanty that once called the land its home remained.

The black-leather suited Digimon heaved a deep-breathed sigh, letting his head fall so that his chin came to rest against the top of his sternum. "Humans. Can't trust 'em not to destroy what belongs to others."

Deciding it was useless to stand around cursing the human workers, Beelzemon headed into town.

Knowing full well how the humans would react to his new form, the Mega took to his old habits as a Rookie: traversing across the rooftops of the buildings.

Beelzemon stopped atop the eastern side of the Falton Middle School and looked around, trying to figure where he was headed.

His head tilted quickly when a strange noise reached his ears; a soft note of music. It disappeared before he could locate its source.

Curiosity got the best of him and he found his feet carrying him over to the edge of the building, straining his senses to pick up any more noises.

Suddenly another single note, a different pitch and longer than the first, perked his interest.

In an attempt to pinpoint the noise before it disappeared, he dropped down to the ground below, landing as quietly as possible, and made his way towards the direction of the music: the nearby playground.

The Mega was surprised to find a human female sitting on one of the swings. He was most certain the human was older than the ones that normally attended the school.

As he drew closer, her shape became easier to make out. She was clearly an older female, around the human age of seventeen to nineteen with a fair complexion and light ash blonde hair whose ends curled against the tops of her shoulders. Her clothing consisted of black and silver trimmed tennis shoes clearly worn by years of use, jean capris and a faded green t-shirt.

She seemed preoccupied with writing in a little book that was splayed open in her lap with one hand; the other hand held a long slender silver piece of metal. Beside her left foot was a short black leather case that bore designs that were difficult to make out from where he stood.

As Beelzemon stepped off the grass and on to the rubbery surface of the playground, he noted the human's head shoot up, allowing him a glimpse of widening eyes the color of gathering storm clouds accompanied by a deep pink hue to her cheeks. Before he could make another move, the human darted from her position, simultaneously dropping her book and snatching up her case.

"Wait!" he called. "You dropped...oh, damn," He quickly moved forward and stooped down to pick up the small book before it was blown away by the wind.

A quick scan confirmed that the human female had disappeared from view; straining his senses confirmed she was no longer in the vicinity.

The Viral gave the book a quick once-over and opened to a random page. He was confused by the strange designs placed between strings of lines. Sometimes the designs repeated themselves, other times they were completely different from one another. The next page only had a few of the designs in it, appearing to be what the female had been writing in before she fled.

"Suppose if I see the human again and she doesn't run, I'll give this back to her." He carefully tucked the book under his left armguard and took his leave of the playground.

The teenage female finally slowed to a stop two blocks away from the Middle School. She fought to catch her breath as she turned around. "I…don't think…I was followed. Huff…"

She breathed a sigh of relief and straightened herself up. A sudden realization struck as her wrist pulled up the hand holding her empty flute case. "Oh! My sheet music! I must have dropped it."

She knelt down and carefully placed the case on the pavement and flicked open the latch. Within a short time the flute she once held was taken apart, the pieces returned to their proper resting places. She then set out back towards the playground in search of her dropped sheet music booklet.


	2. Savior?

The Mega Viral was sitting atop the ice cream shop's roof, gorging himself on a large sundae, when he suddenly spotted the human female he had seen at the playground.

She was across the street from his position, walking with her head bent, an armful of books hugged close to her chest, seemingly oblivious to everything around her.

Ahead of her was a group of four human males, around the same age as her. One male appeared to be the leader of the group, sporting a slicked up short Mohawk similar in color to molten tar. He held a clear air of authority by how he held himself and interacted with the other three, whom were more thickly built. More distinctive features were not as noticeable or a concern to the Viral. The main feature that stood out as a clear warning sign was the sly grin to the leader's thin lips as his eyes came to a rest on the female trudging towards them.

Beelzemon quickly shoveled the rest of his ice cream, making a small face of pain due to the extreme cold. He gave his head a quick shake and moved to a crouching position as he kept a close eye on the scene about to unfold before him.

The female did not look up until the lackies caught her in a half circle, the leader in front, blocking her way. The lackies on either side grabbed her arms, one apiece. This resulted in the books she had been carrying to tumble to the pavement in a heap.

The leader and the female seemed to share an exchange of words with the male showing quick anger. He gave her a resounding slap to her right cheek, yelling something into her face.

Beelzemon leapt down from the building to the sidewalk below, causing the long line of people waiting outside the shop to scream and scatter. He stalked his way towards the small group, fists balled and jaw set in a hard line

The lackies took one look at the lean but powerfully built Viral, clearing at least a foot taller than themselves, and immediately hurried to their leader's side, as far away from the Digimon as possible.

The leader seemed less affected by the sight of the Mega Viral. He turned to face Beelzemon, returning the fierce glare from the red-wine eyes with his own, the color of a pond as still as glass. His head moved to keep eye contact as the Digimon neared.

"Ya think it's fun to mess with people weaker than you?"

"I bet you do, too." the boy shot back.

Beelzemon snorted. "Hell I don't, if I don't deem ya the same strength as me, I don't see a reason to waste my time. And you. Are a waste of my time. Now git before I change my mind."

The male looked deeply offended. "How dare you consider me a waste of time? I am Dagger, the head honcho around this town. I don't look it, but I know for a fact I could take you on."

This statement brought a rumbling laugh from the Viral. "Kid, seriously?"

"Yes, seriously!"

Beelzemon stepped around the group and picked a chunk of pavement the size of his fist that had broken off the sidewalk. He smirked as he turned to face Dagger, holding up the retrieved rock. "Let's see if you can do this." With minor effort, he reduced the chunk into small pebbles by closing his claws around it, giving it a hefty squeeze. He overturned his hand and dropped the remains onto Dagger's shoes.

A flicker of fear passed through the human male's eyes, but was quickly snuffed out. He puffed out his chest. "Bah, I can do better than that! Just wait until next time, I'll show you whose worth who's time. C'mon boys."

Beelzemon watched the group walk off, inwardly amused at the human's attempt to not lose face. He quickly turned his attention to the female, who still seemed dazed. "You all right?"

"I…" Her voice faded and she knelt down to start gathering up the fallen books.

"Oh, uh," He carefully pulled the small booklet from his armguard and held it out to the female. "Here."

The female looked up, bewildered. "Oh! Ah…" She quickly pressed the gathered books to her chest and straightened up.

The Viral held his hand out further, attempting to coax her to take it.

After a few moments of awkward stillness, the female tentatively reached out and took the booklet with her fingertips. "I thought I'd lost it," she said quietly. "Thank you."

"I didn't mean ta scare you off like that, before. I know I'm not exactly the image of bein' approachable."

The bronze-haired human shook her head. "I just thought I was alone."

"Curiosity got the best of me. Heard some of the music, had to figure where it was coming from with it being that late in the day. So…you're not intimidated by meh?"

"Only a little."

"Just a little? Damn, I fail pretty hard at being a Viral, then." he huffed.

"Erm. Thank you for stopping those boys. Dagger never seems to stop pestering me."

"No problem. Anyone who preys on the weak for mere amusement needs a good kick to the face."

"Yeah…anyway. I need to get home. Thanks again."

"C'ya." He watched her for a few moments before realizing something was pricking at the nape of his neck. He let his eyes wander only to find it was coming from the sheer amount of fear radiating from the nearby pedestrians. "Psh. Humans." He walked into the nearest alleyway and quickly scaled the building beside him.


	3. Walk Home

Soft rays of light filtered through the openings of the treetops, leaving a mosaic of coloration on the land beneath the leaves.

The chorus of the birds was joined in by a softer melody that did not belong to any of the feathery denizens.

Beelzemon was standing against a tree trunk, lost in thought as he listened to the music.

Not far from his position, the human female was sitting cross-legged on the grass, playing her instrument.

A sudden, shrill noise was emitted from the instrument and the female lowered it from her lips, a look of frustration to her face. "It doesn't sound right, no matter how I rearrange the notes or change them. Ugh…why do I even try?"

"I thought it sounded good." Beelzemon said as he poked out from behind the tree.

The human looked up, clearly startled. "Wha?"

"Er. Sorry, couldn't stop myself." Beelzemon scratched the back of his head.

"It just doesn't sound the way I want it to, is all."

"Ah." He carefully settled himself in the grass a couple feet from the human.

"If you're hoping for an encore, I don't really play for audiences…" she said quietly, a pink hue to her cheeks.

"Why not? Sounds pretty good from what I've heard. I know I ain't a music nut or anythin'."

She lowered her eyes to the instrument in her hands but said nothing.

"So. I gotta question for ya. I can't figure at all why you're not more scared of me. Why is that?"

"A couple of the kids back home were Tamers."

"Oh?" Beelzemon was rather stunned.

"Yeah, they always wanted me to..." she quickly cut herself off, her face conveying sorrow and shame.

"To…what?"

"Something I'm mocked for here. I can't even do what I enjoy most for being ridiculed…'tom-boy', 'weirdo'…" She took a deep breath to calm herself. "It's not something to bother others about."

Beelzemon's curiosity was entirely peaked by now. "Seriously, what could those kids see that would make 'em call you a 'weirdo'?"

"I don't act like a girl, they said."

"Oh…ohhh. Is it just 'cause you don't wear skimpy clothes and have a ton of that nasty chalk stuff on your face?"

"It's part…why am I even telling you this? I don't even know you."

"Yeh…pretty bad of me not to introduce myself, eh?" He held a hand out to her. "Name's Beelzemon."

She regarded the offered hand warily. "I um…nice to meet you, Beelzemon."

"What? I give you mine, you give me yours, isn't that how it goes?"

"Erm…yes, that's how it's supposed to. My name is Valeri."

"Haven't heard that name before. Not half bad."

Valeri set her flute in her lap and started to carefully dismantle the pieces. "I should get going in a few."

"But you haven't been here long."

"How long have you been following me?" she asked, without looking up.

"Er…" He smiled sheepishly. "Just after I saw ya walking around. I just uhm. Happened to be on a stroll."

"Mhm." She was clearly not convinced by the excuse. She opened up her case and set to placing the pieces in their corresponding slots within the velvety lining.

"Your case thing looks really cool." Beelzemon said when she closed the lid, hoping to change the subject.

A light blush flushed across Valeri's cheeks. "Uh. Thanks."

"Is that what those kids tease you about?"

"'True ladies shouldn't create monsters.'" she said in a bitter tone.

"Monsters?" He surveyed the case lid.

Portions were covered in varying sizes of thick swirls in a range of colors. Some were close enough together to create various shapes without touching.

There was one piece in particular that caught the Viral's eye. It was red-skinned beast with a long serpentine neck covered in white fur and two pairs of long spines and four powerfully built legs with three toes bearing short but sharp claws. The location above its shoulders bore a pair of strange shaped wings bearing five forward facing golden spikes. A second pair were located just above its back hips, smaller in size and bearing only two spikes. Various zig-zag lines covered its body except for its white underbelly, several shades darker than its main coloration. The tail appeared to be twined around itself with a sharp spear-headed implement at the tip. The tip of its snout was adorned by a menacing looking metal horn, made even more menacing by the fighting stance she had drawn it in.

"That looks like a Digimon."

"It is. It's one of the Tamer's DoruGreymon."

"For real?"

She nodded, a small smile to her face. "Yeah."

"Doesn't look like somethin' you'd want to come across."

"He's a real sweetie. He just looks scary. He'd let me carry him around as Dorumon. And really liked beef jerky. I'd always carry a pack with me to give him when I visited with his Tamer."

Beelzemon noted the sad and wistful expression on Valeri's face when she spoke of the other Digimon. "So who was its Tamer?"

"A classmate of mine. I don't give out names to strangers."

"B-but I introduced myself!" Beelzemon huffed, clearly insulted.

Valeri gave him a skeptical look. "Introductions mean nothing if you don't get to know the person who introduced themselves."

"Eh…suppose so."

"Besides, names aren't important. It's not like I'll get to see any of them again."

"Aw, why so down 'bout it? You never know."

"I do. We moved so far away. To this crazy place."

"I agree with you on that one. Can't go anywhere without people yellin' at me or screaming and running off. Kinda funny half the time but it gets downright bothersome after a bit."

"Well…you _are_ something like 6 foot, wearing black leather, and your appearance is something of a demon's: eyes like a low flame and skin like a white heather's petals. You don't exactly blend in with a crowd."

"Feh. Shouldn't be 'bout blending in. Humans should learn to not be so scared. After seein' that guy, I can see why you've not batted an eye at my looks."

"You're still intimidating, I assure you. Just in your way."

"Gee, thanks."

"All right. It's been nice chatting," She got to her feet, case in hands. "But I need to head home. Bye."

Beelzemon quickly got to his feet. "Uh, wait."

"Hm?"

"Why don't I…ah…escort you home?"

"Escort?" Her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Yeh! So that punk kid don't mess with you."

"I…um," She turned her head slightly, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. "I don't suppose it could hurt."

"Great! Er," A tinge of pink rushed to his pale cheeks at having been too enthusiastic about her reply. He quickly shook it off before Valeri noticed. "Thanks. Lead the way."

The pair made their way through downtown, keeping to their own thoughts. Valeri kept her eyes trained on the wispy clouds that lazily floated through the sky and the Viral had to distract himself by watching the other pedestrians and even passengers of the vehicles that went by to stop from speaking.

"So um…Beelzemon, was it?"

"Hrm? Yep, that's my name."

"Why is it that you seem to follow me everywhere?"

"Ah…I blame your music. Just keep following it, and you happen to be the one playing."

"Strange. I do occasionally have people drawn to it, but I try to go where no one is going to be."

"Why's that?"

"I'm not good enough for an audience."

"Did those kids tell you that?"

Valeri shook her head. "No."

"So…just you thinks that?"

"I know it to be true. I've only been playing for a couple years. I'm attempting to write some music, but I think I'm giving up for now. No matter how I try to re-arrange the notes or even change them, it never sounds like I want it to."

"So, you're just giving up?"

"Just until I can ensure my songs come out like I want them too."

"But doesn't that require actually working on them?"

Valeri set her lips in a thin line, knowing he was right. "I just don't know…I like the hobby but it frustrates me more than fixing stray splotches of paint."

"Splotches of paint?"

"Those things can get so annoying! Have the painting nearly finished and get a big blob of deep purple right smack dab on a dandelion yellow. Trying to paint over it and make it look right is a nightmare."

The rest of the way Valeri discussed the different methods she used to recover paintings and drawings of different medias where some mishap changed the initial design.

Although the Viral had no clue about anything she spoke of, he enjoyed seeing her so animate about the topic.

Valeri suddenly halted and turned to face a nearby house. "Oh, ah. We're here."

Beelzemon turned and looked where she was facing. He gave a low whistle upon surveying the home.

The home was two stories with grey brick siding. The first floor's roof started in the middle of the building and ended on the right side, encompassing a one-door garage; the top floor had gently sloping sides with a flattened top, a small chimney poking out the top end of the left side. Windows were placed with two above the end of the middle roof, three at the right end, and the left corner was overtaken by tall windowpanes that wrapped around the corner. The porch was small with two pillars on either side of the two steps to support it. A pair of glass windowed doors graced the entryway. A sandstone driveway that doubled as a walkway to the front porch completed the look of the home.

"Nice place ya got."

Valeri shrugged. "I guess. Only nice thing that came of it is that I've finally got a room for all my stuff. And I'm not stuck with i _her/i_." The word was spoken in a bitter tone.

"Hrm?"

"Oh. Nothing. Anyway. Thank you for walking me home…even though I don't know you all that well."

"I figure it wouldn't hurt anything. I won't remember by tomorrow where this place is. Didn't even pay a lick of attention gettin' here, to be honest."

Valeri suddenly looked away shyly, having remembered her rambling on their short journey. "I'm sorry I was so chatty here, I have a terrible habit of rambling when excited. I'm sure you spaced out to ignore me."

"What? No, no! Not at all. I admit I hadn't a clue what you were talkin' about. But I found it entertaining."

"If you say so. Um. See you around."

"C'ya." Beelzemon gave her a small wave before starting off back towards the main part of town.

Valeri watched him. She had the strangest urge to call him back. She chewed her lip to stop herself, instead she turned her eyes towards the horizon. She noted the blue sky transitioning to a light grey, similar to her own eye color. "Storm clouds."


	4. Cafe Kindness

"Feh, rain." The Viral grumbled as he stalked his way down one of the small suburb sidewalks.

Luckily for the Digimon, his outfit consisted mainly of leather, the only piece to take the brunt of the weather was the fuzzy collar of his jacket.

His normally thick-spiked hair wilted like leaves under the weight of too many droplets.

"No point stayin' in the park. Rain just falls through from the leaves anyway. Hrm. What to do today? Starvin'. Food, food. Hm," He drummed his claws absently against the muscles of his stomach as he walked. "Ah-hah!"

Just off to the right side of where he was walking, was one of the small food shops. Even better, one of his favorite cafes.

He hurried inside out of the rain.

The inside of the small shop was quaint and bright, with polished wooden floors and a mixture of booths and wooden tables with matching chairs. Towards the back of the store was the countertop with a glass showcase in the middle, showing an array of deli meats and cheeses. A large chalkboard hung behind the counter with a long list of foods and their prices written artfully in blues, greens, and purples, with each outlined in white.

After shaking the water from his body, the Viral made his way through to a table near the back of the shop and sat down. He did not bother with looking at the menu, as he already knew what to order.

An older waitress with dusty black hair put into a bun and wearing a deep green apron over her white t-shirt and blue jeans walked up to the table, a pad and pencil in each hand.

Beelzemon was not the least bit surprised to see a glimmer of fear in her light green eyes.

"Hello. Can I get you something to drink…?"

"Yeh. Coffee."

"Is there anything you'd like with it? Sugar, cream?"

"Nah, straight black is fine."

"Okay. Are you ready to order now or would you like more time?"

"Yep. A couple tuna sandwiches, no tomatoes, extra mayo. And a side of potato salad."

"All right, I'll have it out to you when it's ready." the woman said as she scribbled on the notepad.

"Thanks."

The woman went to another table to take customers' orders, leaving the Digimon to his thoughts.

The Viral decided to flip through the menu for something to do. "Might try somethin' else sometime."

"Beelzemon?"

The Viral looked up sharply at the voice, slightly startled. "Wha? Oh, hey-o, Valeri. What are you up to?"

"I like coming in here sometimes. What are you doing here? I would think the waitress wouldn't even take your order."

"Well, she did. So nyeh. I _am_ a customer."

Valeri smiled gently. "Yes, yes you are. I suppose I was being too harsh. Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Wha-sure!"

Valeri pulled the chair out and set herself down, resting her umbrella against the table's core. "Thank you. I'm sorry if I'm being a bother."

"Not at all! Really. Just didn't figure you'd want anyone seein' ya with me out in public."

"Why? All the kids here hate me, anyways. They're the reason I didn't…er. Never mind." She folded her hands together on the table.

"Sorry to have brought that up…erm…so what are ya up to today? I see you don't have your case."

"No, I left it at home. Just thought I'd come out and sit here for awhile."

"Hello, Miss. Can I get you something to drink?"

The pair looked up as the waitress set a cup of coffee and a small plate down near the Viral's hand.

"Yes, please. Sweet tea."

"And would you like anything to eat?"

"Chicken pesto, grilled, please."

"All right, I'll bring it out when it's finished."

"Thank you."

Once the waitress left, Valeri turned her attention back to the Digimon, who had the cup close to his face, blowing gently at the steaming dark liquid. "Coffee?"

"Yeah, so? Need some caffeine."

"I was just wondering."

The Viral took a sip of the still boiling hot liquid and made a small face of pain. "Eck."

"Careful, it's hot." Valeri said in a teasing voice.

Beelzemon stuck his tongue at her. "No duh."

The ash-blonde haired girl gave a short, soft giggle and looked down at her hands. After a few moments, she pulled a napkin from the holder and flattened it out on the table.

"What'cha doin' now?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing." She pulled a pen from a hidden pocket within the jacket she was wearing and pushed on the top. With a soft click, the point appeared from within the pen.

The curious Digimon watched the pen glide across the soft fabric of the napkin, leaving behind a trail of a bright blue.

"Blue? Thought that was a pen?"

"It is a pen. But I have a number of pens that are different colors. This is aqua, a gel pen."

"Neat."

He watched in fascination as the single line became multiple lines, then spaces began to be filled and a shape took place.

The waitress came with Valeri's drink and their food shortly after.

Valeri took an absent sip of her drink and looked over her drawing. "Hrm."

"That looks awesome."

"I suppose. Needs a lot of work, still."

Beelzemon picked up one of his sandwiches. "Should eat while it's still warm, can work on yer stuff later, it's not gonna grow legs and walk off."

"Heh. Yes, you're right. I tend to get wrapped up in what I'm doing."

The pair set to eating in silence.

Valeri picked up her pen again and tapped it against her chin as she chewed thoughtfully on her sandwich. "Could use a few spots here…and…" Her voice trailed off as she started doodling.

Beelzemon could not suppress a bemused smirk as he rested his cheek in his hand. _She sure gets distracted easily._

After a short while she put away the pen she was using and pulled another one out. This time it was a yellow similar in shade to mustard. She started filling in various spots.

The Viral was busily demolishing his second sandwich while he watched Valeri's work. It was fascinating to see a white cloth change so quickly to a colorful drawing.

The blonde-haired teenager picked the napkin up and turned it clock-wise and counter-clockwise several times before setting it down again. "Needs more work, but I'm done for now."

"Lemme see." Beelzemon leaned over.

Valeri quickly turned it over. "No."

"Awh! Why not?"

In response, the entirety of the young woman's face flushed and she lowered her eyes.

"Oh, please? I watched you work on it. Sorta…"

She shook her head.

Before Beelzemon had a chance to say anything else, the waitress returned.

"Is everything all right, do either of you need anything?" She set down two receipts as she spoke.

"Nah, we're fine."

She smiled softly and walked off.

Beelzemon snatched up both receipts just as Valeri was reaching for hers.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"Yeh, so?"

"Just _what_ do you think you're doing? Snooping at how much I spent?"

"Ehehe. No. Can't pay for somethin' if I don't know how much it is."

The teenager was stunned. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She quickly closed it and frowned.

The Viral suppressed a laugh. He got up from the table with the papers and went to the counter to pay for the food.


	5. House Tour

The pair were walking down the sidewalk, the Viral holding Valeri's umbrella to shield the both of them, despite him easily clearing a foot taller than the young woman. In order to counter-balance this, the Digimon hunched himself down as much as he was able and still be able to walk properly.

"Just tell me why you did that."

"Did what?"

"You know what."

"Oh, that. Heh." He grinned. _What's she so uptight about it for, anyways? Thought human females liked it when someone paid for their stuff._

"It's not like we were on a date."

"Eh?" He looked down at her in confusion.

Her face was obstructed by the waves of blonde locks that bobbed gently with each step. "Human custom. Well, teenagers mostly. The guy at the table pays for the girl's part of the meal if they're on a date."

"Never said it was one, just figured it was a uhm…what's the word? Curt…erm."

"Courteous?"

"Yeh! That one."

"That still doesn't make a lot of sense."

"Eh, ya kept me company for lunch."

"If that's so, I should have paid for both of us."

"Erm," He tapped his chin thoughtfully with his free fingers. "Suppose you're right on that one. Tell ya what, next time you can treat both of us, eh?"

"Next time, hm? You really think there will be a next time?"

"Erh. Well. Just sayin' if there _is_ a next time. Your treat."

"Mhm..."

 _Oh, jeez._ He exhaled a silent sigh.

"How about this instead."  
"Hrm?"

"We're at my house."

Beelzemon looked up to see they were indeed coming up towards Valeri's home.

"How about this then: since it's raining and you were so kind to walk me home again...would you care if I made dinner for you before you went on your way?"

"Serious?"

"If you were going to do anything, you'd have done it by now. So I don't figure staying over for dinner could be any harm. If you can handle my sister."

"Sister? What's she like, then?"

"Oh...you'll see soon enough."

"I…don't think I like the sound of that."

"She's not usually at home, except when it's dinner time. Her so-called friends don't normally feed her."

"Hmph. Absolutely awful."

The pair stopped on the porch.

Beelzemon gave the umbrella a shake and commenced trying to close it. "Urg. How the hell you work this thing?" he grumbled as it popped back open.

"Hehe. You have to push the portion that holds the rods down until it fits over those silver pieces sticking out."

"Eh?"

"Like this." With great ease, Valeri pulled the plastic piece she spoke of down until both heard a loud click.

"Ohhh, duh." He lightly smacked his palm to the side the eggplant purple half-helmet masking the top portion of his face.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, this one likes to be extra tricky." she said as she fished a key from her pants pocket.

"Just don't like when things get the better of me." he mumbled, eyebrows furrowing together beneath his helmet. He looked up when his peripherals spotted the door opening.

Valeri stood with her back against the outside of the door, waiting for him to enter.

The Mega Viral gingerly stepped into the foyer, feeling his innards twist into a series of knots. The sense of uneasiness was strange, but he felt like an intruder sneaking into someone's home, even though he had clearly been invited.

Valeri shut the door once Beelzemon was clear of it and took the umbrella from his slackened grip. "Are you okay?" She had noticed the rest of his body was tense and a look of unease upon his chalky pale face.

"I'm fine…just feel out of place here."

She gave him a comforting smile. "It might just be because it's new."

"I suppose. Never really been in a house before."

"Really? But where do you stay?"

"Ehm…" He paused and thought how best to divert the conversation. "So uh…what are you making me for dinner?" He forced a smirk.

Valeri rolled her eyes in mock annoyance as she put the umbrella away in the closet to the right of the front doors. "Whatever I might dig up from the garden outside."  
"Eww. Like dirt?"

She gave him an exasperated look, clearly unamused by his question. "Yes, like dirt."

He stuck his tongue at her. "Gross."

She grinned. "You asked."

He turned his attention to what was in front of him. The hallway seemed smaller further in due to two sets of wooden stairs, similar to the flooring, taking up the middle right side, separated by a handrail. The one in the middle led downstairs while the right one led upstairs.

"Down's my place, upstairs is the rest of the bedrooms." Valeri said, answering the unasked question.

"Oh, cool. Are all the bedrooms upstairs?"

"Yeah. With how this place is laid out. I can show you the rest of the house in a minute, it just loops around here. First, though, need to keep water from getting everywhere," She pulled a light colored towel from the closet's shelf and handed it to the Viral, then pulled out another and spread it out on the floor. "There we go. Shoes stay in the closet, just so you know."

"Oh…er." He looked down at his boots.

"Yes, they have to come off." Valeri said as she herself was removing her shoes, making sure to only use her own feet to do so.

"Hum. What ya think I should do with the ah, y'know, gun?"

She looked down at the aforementioned weapon safely holstered to the outside of the Viral's left boot. "Gun? Oh. Uh. You can just leave it there. Maybe lay it down so no one sees it. Mom would freak...though I'm hoping we'll have you out before she gets home."

"When would that be?"

"Not sure. It varies from day to day."

"Ah." Using the wall to support himself, he commenced removing his boots.

Once the task was completed and the boots were safely tucked away under the shelf, the human teenager showed the Viral around the house.

To the left of the hallway was a large opening into the combined living and dining area with a small gas-powered fireplace situated against the wall between the two areas, which was actually the other side of the bathroom wall. The living room was furnished with deep chocolate brown sectional sofa pushed back into the right corner of the room so that the windows on the left could be seen out of. A short wooden table was set in the middle with a matching end table situated near the windows. The dining area was adorned with a long oval table set at an angle to allow better fit for the six matching chairs.

Going through a small doorway in the upper right of the dining room led into the kitchen area. The carpet transitioned into ceramic tiling that was a mixture of muted earthy tones. The electric stove and deep-chocolate-hued granite counter-top were set within a deep upside down v-shape, a sink set at the point of the v. As the v ended on the right side, it opened to a slightly larger space with three stools sitting next to the edge. Opposite the counters were a refrigerator and tall cabinet. Where the first stool started, is where the tiles stopped and the carpet (the same as the living/dining areas) began again.

This room was furnished with a small beige colored sofa set at an angle so it was facing towards the television set on a small entertainment center in the upper right corner. The lower right corner was occupied by a doorway leading into the laundry room.

Beelzemon gave a low whistle when they returned to the kitchen after the tour. "This place is crazy."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just the way it is, I guess."

"Yeah, it's a bit smaller than our old place, but it's still nice. Would you like anything to drink?"

"What'cha got?"

"Water, various flavor packs for the water, apple juice, sweet tea, milk. Anything pique your interest?"

"Uhm what about wa-cat?"

A dusty, fluffy black-furred kitten had hopped up onto the counter-top behind Valeri. It looked at her intently.

"'Wa-cat'? What kind of wor-oh, it's just Shadow." she said when she noticed her kitten.

The small creature's meow sounded more like a squeak. "Mrew."

"He's not been fed yet, seems like. One sec, Squeaker, I'll get you something." She opened the large cabinet and knelt down.

Beelzemon turned his attention from the teenage human towards the kitten, who had gotten back up to its paws and was pacing about in anticipation.

Valeri stood back up with a bowl in hand. "Here we are." she said as she placed the bowl, which contained small pieces of dry food.

The kitten set to the food with gusto.

"So, you wanted a water?"

"Yeah."

Valeri retrieved a pitcher of water from the refrigerator and two glasses from the cabinets above the counter.

"Thanks."

"No problem." She pulled out a stool and set herself gingerly down on the cushion.

Beelzemon quickly followed suit, occupying the third one, leaving the middle seat empty. He swirled the water around in the glass until a little vortex emerged from the middle. "So, you're sure it's fine if I'm in here?"

"Hrm?"

"Like, don't you have parents or something?"

"I…yes, I have a mother. She's pretty busy, usually."

"I'm only sort of used to humans and their ways. Does she have a job?"

"Yes, she does. It keeps her up late most days, she'll be either in her room doing paperwork, talking to clients or she'll be at the office. Sometimes she's out of town, like she is right now."

"Oh."

"So, it'll be fine unless Yuri wants to be a snitch. And it's just for dinner."

"You gonna kick me out after?" he asked teasingly.

"Indeed, soon as you get done eating, you're out the door."

"You're such a jerk."

"No, I'm the nicer of the trio." She gave him a small smile.

"Oh, man. So, what's this sister of yours like then? Since she's supposed to be worse than you."

"Typical high school girl, I suppose. Prissy clothes, make-up, obsessed over guys. I'll warn you now though: she will flirt with anyone she deems 'worthy.' Probably even you."

"Psh…I guess I should feel honored? Haha…" He made a sour face.

"Nah. Those girls don't really have any tastes. Muscles and sometimes a nice smile is all they care about, or the 'bad-boy' image."

"So, what's your tastes, then?"

This question caught the teenager off-guard. Her face flushed and she hurriedly took a drink of water.

"Ehehe." Beelzemon could not suppress a grin at the sudden bout of embarrassment he had stirred from the human female.

It took several moments and two sips later before Valeri had re-composed herself. "T-th-that is not something I'm interested in," she stated firmly. "Nor is it any business of yours to ask."

"Then what _are_ you interested in?"

"I plan on going to college, an art college, after High School. I don't have any time to deal with dating. I need to focus on my education and a job. Not around here." She added the last part as less of an afterthought and more of definitive.

"Nice. I guess this education stuff is pretty important."

"It is, if you want a good job nowadays. A career, especially."

"Yeesh. I'm glad I don't have to worry about any of that. Not that it would matter, I guess. Never heard of a place hiring a Digimon to work."

"Yeah…wait. Then how do you pay for things?"

"Oh, that? Uh. If you're really interested, I could show you sometime."

She raised an eyebrow. "Show me? I'm not sure I like the sound of that."  
He held his hands up. "Hey! It's nothin' bad, I swear."

"Mhm…I guess we'll see."

"It's just not the manliest job…and I'd rather like to keep my pride."

"You can keep it if you tell me."

"Ah, I think you'll like it better if I show ya."

"If you say so."

He gave a short nod. "Yup."

A low rumbling noise caught the Viral's attention and he turned his head slightly to see the fluffy kitten looking up at him. "What'cha lookin' at, furball?"

"Mrr." Shadow squeaked in reply and moved closer, sniffing curiously at the metal digit-covers of the Digimon's glove.

"You have a different smell, so he's just checking you out."

The Viral lifted up a finger and watched as the kitten looked it over, sniffing furiously.

Shadow, seemingly deciding he liked the newcomer, butted the top of his head against the offered finger.

Beelzemon shook his head as he watched the kitten rub the rest of its furry body against his hand. "Suppose I've been accepted?"

"He likes you well enough, yes. He's a pretty affectionate cat. Here, Squeaker." Valeri clicked her tongue.

Shadow immediately padded over to his human, chirping happily. With great ease, he leapt from the counter-top to Valeri's shoulder.

Valeri placed a hand against the kitten's side to help keep him stable as he butted against her jaw. "This is what he does to me."

"That's pretty amusing."

The pair turned their heads simultaneously when they heard the front door open.

"Sounds like she's home."

A voice accompanied the sound of footsteps on the wood flooring. "Valeri! Val! Who's shoes are these? They're gigantic!"

Valeri smacked her palm to her forehead. "Jeez."

A female teenager appeared from around the corner of the hallway. Sporting a deeply tanned complexion, two-tone blonde hair put up in a half-ponytail, with stray strands under control with barrettes, her face held an unnatural amount of make-up to it, consisting of a muted lipstick and bright eyeshadows. Her attire consisted of a chevron-patterned peach and white dress that ended near the bottom of her knees, completed with a white purse. Her ears bore several small studs starting at her earlobes and ending at the middle of her ear.

Bright blue eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa, it's one of those things!"

"He's not a _thing,_ Yuri."

"Well, whatever it is. At least it's more attractive looking than that dog-thing. Quite attractive, at that."

Beelzemon made a face of disgust at the comment. "Eck."

Valeri's eyes narrowed menacingly for a few moments before returning to a passive expression. Her voice held an underlying venom to it as she spoke: "Dorumon was not a dog."

Yuri waved her hand dismissively. "So what's for dinner?"

"What do you want?"

"I don't know; food."

Valeri rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll see what all we have."

"M'kay, I'll be in my room." She disappeared around the corner.

Beelzemon turned his attention to the young female beside him. "I see what'cha mean, now."

"That's not even the worst get-up she has. Dress code prevents the students from making fools of themselves."

"Oh?"

"Mhm. No shirt logos, no piece of skin around the mid-area, chest, or shoulders can show, no skirts, dresses or shorts can be shorter than the tips of your fingers."

"Shorter than what?"

Valeri got to her feet to demonstrate. She placed the palms of her hands against the sides of her legs, keeping her arms as straight as she was able. "See where my fingertips stop? Nothing can end before that. Of course, each person's arms are different lengths, so some people have shorter clothes than others. But you get the idea." She sat back down in the chair.

Beelzemon still looked confused. "Uh. 'Kay then. School sounds weird."

"Yeah, regulations and whatnot. They don't bother me, I don't dress like a floozy."

This brought a small chuckle from the Viral. "So, are you gonna show me anymore of the house or we just gonna hang out in the kitchen?"

"You're more than welcome to go to the living room and watch television. The bedrooms upstairs aren't that interesting."

"What about the basement?"

"That's where mine is. Plus all my art-y type things. I don't figure that would be interesting, either. We could watch videos on my computer if you didn't want to be around Yuri when she comes back downstairs. But that's not as likely."

"It's whatever, I'm just the guest."

"But that's the point, you are the guest."

"I don't do a whole lot anyhow."

Shadow hopped down from Valeri's shoulder and, after walking around for a few moments, splayed himself out on the floor.

"Looks like Shadow votes for stayin' in the kitchen."

"He'll go wherever I do."

"I admit, I'm rather curious to see what yer space looks like. Is it full of drawin' stuff?"

"It is. It's rather messy, too. Well, let me figure something for dinner first. Then I'll show you around my studio downstairs."

"Sounds fine to me."

While Valeri rummaged through the cabinets and refrigerator to gather ingredients for dinner, Beelzemon turned his attention to the nearby window. He watched the rain as it pattered against the windowpanes.

Through the drizzle, he was able to make out a few pieces of lawn furniture and a rectangular patch of wet soil with a little wire running around the outside of it.

"You know, thinking about it. You could help me with one of my art assignments."

"What?"

"Yeah! I've been trying to figure what to draw."

"So how can I be of assistance?"

"Your hand would be useful."

"My hand?"

"Yes."

Beelzemon turned his hand back and forth, examining it closely. "I don't get it."

"It's perfect. I need someone else's hand for my study. I'm trying to get better at human-ish anatomy."

"Don't suppose it would hurt anythin'." He felt a tinge of warmth rush through his face when the teenager beamed at him. He quickly turned his face away, back towards the window.


	6. Studio

Later, the pair were downstairs in Valeri's small studio.

It took up the majority of the space in relation to the living and dining room above. The door leading to her bedroom was in the space where the family room occupied.

The walls were filled with varying sizes of canvases and papers, some filled with just backgrounds, others had different Digimon, mainly dragon-types. The largest majority contained dragons of different colorations and designs.

An easel was holding a canvas with a half-painted, half-drawn picture. It was difficult to make out what it was going to be, as she only had a few base colors down.

The area closest to the stairs was furnished with a large work desk and chair. Bottles of paints, colored and mechanical pencils littered one side of the desk, the other held a flat-screen computer monitor. A compartment below the desk contained the tower.

A small bathroom was located in the same place as the one upstairs.

The other room held several clear plastic dressers, all filled with various mediums: ranging from charcoal pencils to oil pastels, erasers and blending tools.

"Got a lotta nice stuff down here."

Valeri smiled slightly with embarrassment. "Thanks. Okay. So all I need you to do is sit here and place your hand on the desk." As she spoke, she pulled her rolling chair over to the other side of the desk.

"Where you gonna sit?"

"I have an extra chair in the other room."

He watched as she disappeared around the corner, heading for her bedroom. His eyes strayed to the desk.

A random picture that was set more carefully than the others caught his attention and he leaned closer to get a better look.

Two dragons, were settled on a picnic fabric beneath a large, sprawling tree with a basket beside them and a small spread of sandwiches, a watermelon and containers with a varieties of fruits pieces layered within. One dragon was elongated, slightly smaller in size than its companion with two pairs of legs, the front paws being smaller than the hind paws. Thin, leathery wings sprouted from its shoulder blades, laid flush against its back. Its color scheme was similar to a black-tailed rat snake, with the head and mid-section being a beige color, and the rest a matte black. The second dragon was based on a two-spotted bat, with giant pink ears, jet black scales with three large white spots and a snow-white underbelly. Its wings sprouted from its shoulder blades, with a large claw at the end, connecting to its stumpy tail and feet in the same fashion as a bat.

A sudden shrill voice rang out. "Hey, that's private!"

Beelzemon jumped back, startled, as the teenager darted forward and snatched up the picture.

She quickly took off with it back to her room.

The Viral cocked an eyebrow under his helmet in confusion. "Oookay then."

Valeri returned after just a few short moments, still looking slightly flustered. "Okay, we're going to get started." She pulled up the small chair she had brought in.

"What'cha need me to do?"

"Uhm. Let me think," She shuffled around the cluster of papers, taking out several pieces and picking out two pencils. "Could you take your glove off? Doesn't matter which hand, just need one."

"Erm. Sure, I guess."

"You act like you've never taken off your clothes." She gave a short, embarrassed giggle.

"Truth be told, I've not. Only had this form fer a…" He halted and held up a hand, ticking off several fingers. "Two weeks maybe?"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeh."

"Well, ah. Always a first for everything, right?"

"Just kinda been worried data'd just be underneath, y'know? Not bein' human and all. But there seems to be stuff under there, so I think it'd be okay, since the boots came off fine." He looked down at his bare feet for a few seconds before shooting Valeri a lop-sided smirk.

"While you do that, I'm going to get my guidelines together."

It took Beelzemon several minutes to wrestle off the arm-guard; the glove was inexplicably easier as it just took a little wiggling at the metal-covered digits to remove it. The Mega flexed his fingers, watching the tendons and muscles move throughout his hand and arm. "This is freaky."

The female teenager gave a low chuckle as she spread out her required papers.

"So what'r those?"

"The papers our teacher gave us to use. One has how you'd break a hand into sections, see here? The palm becomes a kind of rectangular shape, then the knuckles, then the main fingers are like a triangle. This paper here shows bone structure, like the phalanges and metacarpals here," As she spoke, she pointed out each part. "Then, of course, we have the shading page. I'm not too worried about it right now. I just want to work on getting the structure right. Human hands are so hard for me. I'm accustomed to reptile paws. Well, hands, I suppose."

The pair looked up when they heard the thudding of paws on wooden tiles of the stairs.

"Here comes Shadow."

"Mrrr!" Chirping came from the kitten as he bounded into the room, seeming to have heard his name.

Without missing a beat, the fluffy kitten hopped up on the chair arm and onto the desk to start patting around a wadded piece of paper.

Valeri picked the paper up and gave it a swift flick, sending it sailing through the air with Shadow in hot pursuit. She turned her attention back to the Viral. "Okay, that should keep him busy for a little while. Silly Squeaker. He likes, loves, to knock over all of my things. I've ended up leaving them where they are, most of the time."

Beelzemon was watching the kitten chase the ball around spastically, barely registering the teenager's voice. "Hrm?"

"Oh, nothing." She turned and shuffled her papers.

A twinge of guilt settled on the Viral as Valeri's silent annoyance radiated to him. His lips set in a thin line for a few moments but he said nothing.

"Hold out your hand."

Beelzemon complied, resting his ungloved palm on the table.

"Okay. Now…"

Beelzemon flinched violently, jerking his hand back slightly as Valeri's fingers touched his skin.

The pair looked up at each other, sharing a face of bewilderment. The human female had a flush to her face.

"Er. S-sorry. Just ah…took me by surprise."

She gave him a half smile. "My fault, I got a bit excited."

"No biggie." He tentatively set his hand back on the desk.

Her hands hovered near his. "Do…do you mind? It's too hard to explain."

"Erm. Go ahead."

It took several moments of awkward fiddling with finger positions before Valeri was satisfied and set to work.

Beelzemon kept himself occupied by watching Shadow's antics to keep himself from fidgeting too much.

The kitten had carried the ball back into the room and was rolled over on his side, holding it with his front paws while he chewed on it.

Valeri mumbled and grumbled to herself during the entire process, seeming to become agitated with each passing minute. Her perfectionist side was getting the best of her as she attempted to keep the lines as close to the original as possible.

"Hey, Val?"

"What? Did you just call me 'Val'?"

"Ah…sorry?"

"Only family and close friends call me 'Val.'"

The Viral rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. Just kinda slipped out."

Valeri gave a short sigh and set her pencil down. "No. I'm the one who's sorry. I'm really not normally this irritable, honest."

As she spoke, Shadow came up and leapt into her lap, trilling happily.

"Oh, hi, cutie. What are you doing?" She ruffled the kitten's fur with both hands.

In response, Shadow stretched himself out.

"Why don't ya take a quick break? My hand's goin' numb."

"But I won't get the same angle. Let me just finish the rough shapes and you'll be free to move."

"Ooookaaaaaay." He set his cheek against the two metal portions covering the joints on his gloved hand.

Valeri gave him a reassuring smile as she took up her pencil.

Beelzemon and Valeri were once again in the kitchen, this time accompanied by Yuri.

The Viral was sitting at the snack bar, trying to ignore the elder sister, who had set herself in the stool next to him.

"So you really are one of those things?"

"Digimon? Yeh, why?"

"I've not seen one as good looking as you before. That one kid…uhm, whatever his name was, had one that looked like a purple dog."

"It was Jered."

"Oh yes! He was the one that was so madly in love with you, Val. It was disgusting, really."

Valeri rolled her eyes at the comment but remained silent.

"It really was," Yuri nodded. "He'd come over all the time when Mom wasn't home. She didn't like him, either. And bring that purple creature with him. I bet he's just _heartbroken_ we moved."

"Hey Yuri, I think there's somethin' on yer face."

"What?!" She dug her compact mirror out of her purse and examined her face in it. "Where?"

Beelzemon pointed towards a spot on the side of her face. "Try the side, think yer makeup got smudged up."

"Nooo!" She leapt up from the stool and took off for the stairs.

Once her frantic footsteps had faded, the pair burst into laughter.

"You see how fast she ran? Haha."

"Yeah, I owe you one on that save."

"Eh, her voice was really startin' to bug me."

"That was a good choice. She really hates going anywhere without her makeup, let alone have it smudged. She has a small skin condition. Ro…rose something or other. It makes spots on her face red."

"That doesn't sound like a good thing."

"No. It makes her really self-conscious."

"Erm. I feel a little bad now."

"No need. She was pushing her boundaries. She knows I hardly fight back with her anymore, it's not worth it."

Beelzemon folded his arms on the countertop. "Hm."

"Food's done. Do you care to get a couple bowls from the cabinet, there?"

He got up and went to the indicated cabinet. "No prob."

"I'll let Yuri know dinner's finished." She pulled a small item from her front short's pocket.

Beelzemon watched her out of the corner of his eyes as her thumb slid quickly across the screen of the cellphone.

"Okay." She put the phone back in her pocket.

"So…what did you just do?"

"Hrm? I texted her. Easier than running upstairs."

"Heh. Lazy bum."

She lifted an eyebrow at him but said nothing. She turned her attention back to spooning out the contents of the pan into the bowls.  
Beelzemon placed his first two fingers against his forehead and his thumb against the side nose portion of his helmet. "So stupid." he grumbled under his breath. He felt he was making a fool of himself with his attempts at snarky comments.

Valeri set a bowl down in front of him before settling herself down at the other chair. "I hope it's all right. I'm not much of a cook."

"Food is food, to me, long as it's not some weird kinda stuff."

"Hm." She nodded.

They ate in silence for a short time before the Viral spoke again.

"I really appreciate you letting me visit. It's been a lot of fun."

Valeri looked up at him in surprise. "You really think so? We hardly did anything."

Beelzemon's shoulders moved in a short shrug. "Don't have to do a lot. Just, uhm…nice spending time with someone. Been awhile since that's happened. If you've not noticed, I don't have a Tamer. The Tamers here normally chase out any Digimon they find, so they definitely are not ideal friends."

"I haven't seen any Tamers."  
"Not supposed to, I guess. They keep their Digimon in Rookie form and hidden. Most people don't accept something anything strange, like us."

Valeri looked down at her hands. "I understand. Mom is like that."

"That why you want me out after dinner?"

"I really don't know when she'll be…" She pulled her phone from her pocket.

Beelzemon watched as her eyes flitted across the screen, then grew wide.

"Oh no. She's about home. You'll have to leave."

The Mega's face fell. "Aw. Can I just finish this real quick?"

"If you can eat fast enough. Here, I'll go fetch your shoes." She got up from the seat and headed towards the front door.

Beelzemon set to scarfing the rest of his meal before Valeri returned. As he pulled on his boots, the human female spoke.

"Now, it'd be best to take you out the back. And don't take the sidewalk, she'll see you."

"Chill, Valeri. I know how to keep hidden, no worries."

Valeri wrung her hands. "If you say so."

He stood up, giving the toe of each boot a quick tap on the floor. "You're all worried for nothing. You'll see. Now. Just go out this way?" He pointed in the direction of the small door in the family room.

"Yes."

The pair made their way to the door.

Just as he stepped out, he turned around. "I guess I'll see you around sometime?"

"Seems like you always do." She gave a small smile.

He grinned. "Yep. Thanks again."

Valeri watched as the Mega took a running jump across the fence, easily clearing the metal-linked top. She shook her head. "Does he really have to be that dramatic?" With another shake, she closed the door.


	7. Betrayed

Beelzemon gave the front door a quick knock. _Oh, I really hope her mom don't answer._

He watched as the glass door was darkened by a moving shape.

Valeri pulled open the door. She was slightly bewildered find the Viral at her doorstep. "Hi there."

Beelzemon was equally surprised to see the teenager in a dressier outfit than he had seen her in before: a sea-green blouse, black capris and black flats. "Whoa. What ya all gussied up for?"

Valeri blushed profusely. "I…I just felt like it. What are you doing here?"

"Oh uh. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by."

"Uh-huh…"

He gave a short laugh. "Okay, okay. I wanted to see if you wanted to go for a walk."

"A walk?"

"Yeah, is that so strange?"

"No, no, not at all. But I have school today."

"Oh."

"We could go afterwards, if you wanted."

A large grin lifted his lips. "Sure. Sounds great. You want me to come back here or somethin' else?" His smile faded to be replaced by a thoughtful look. "Wait. I could walk you to school, first. Make sure those kids don't mess with you again."

Valeri's expression reflected her uncertainty. "That's very kind of you. It may not be the best idea. Since the way the kids are to begin with."

"Most the way?"

"If you walk me to school, are you coming back later?"

"I can, if you want."

She nodded. "Okay. Oh. Wait here a moment." She turned and hurried into the kitchen, leaving the door open.

Beelzemon watched her curiously. "What is she…?"

The bronze-haired female returned a few minutes later with a backpack slung across her shoulder and two rolled up paper towels. She handed one to the Viral.

"What's this?"

"Breakfast."

"A…towel thing? You humans are weird."

"No, silly," She laughed. "Open it."

Beelzemon carefully unrolled the paper towel to find a pancake with bacon on top. "Oh! You didn't have to do that for me."

Valeri had pulled hers down so that a portion of the rolled up pancake was visible. "We had leftovers," She took a bite out of it. "Let's go."

Beelzemon returned to Valeri's residence around the time she had specified, to find no answer. He went around the side of the house, trying to recall which side Valeri's room resided on.

"I think it was…this one?" He stopped where the laundry room was located on the interior and knelt down next to the small wall of rocks surrounding a tiny window set near the ground.

Being as careful as he could not to disturb the rocks, lest they fall, he reached out and tapped on the windowpane. He waited several moments before tapping it again.

"C'mon, Val. I know you have to be home…I hope. I look like an idiot squattin' over here." He gave his surroundings a quick once-over before turning his attention back to the window.

A sigh of relief left him as the window cracked open slightly. "'Ey, Valeri. You gonna come on out? We were goin' on walk after your classes were done, remember?"

A soft, thick female voice spoke. "Please, just leave…"

"Leave? Somethin' the matter?"

The only response was the window shutting with a soft click.

"Hey! Dammit! Don't ignore me!" He tapped hard on the glass pane. "Val!"

The window opened again.

"Go away!"

"Don't gimme that crap. You were chipper this mornin', what's wrong?"

"You wouldn't understand." The voice cracked and became silent.

Beelzemon had to bite back an exasperated sigh. He closed his eyes to recompose himself. "Please, just tell me what's wrong."

The clattering of metal on concrete caused him to open his eyes again. He was surprised to see a small silver key next to the window opening. "What is this?"

The window closed.

The Viral delicately picked up the key and hurried to the back doors near the window. "Let's see if this works here." He fumbled with the key in his metal clawed gloves for a few seconds before managing to get it into the keyhole.

Without bothering to remove his boots, he made his way to the stairwells.

Shadow suddenly leapt out in the way, trilling happily. "Mrr!"

"Git, Shadow! Or we'll both be fallin' down the stairs!" He pushed the kitten out of the way with his boot before heading down the stairs.

"Mew!" came the huffy meow from the kitten as it trailed behind the Digimon.

Beelzemon stood nervously at Valeri's bedroom door. He steeled himself after a few moments and gave the wood a quick rasp with the metal of his glove.

A few moments later he heard the click of the door mechanism moving and the door itself cracked open.

"Valeri?"

The faded shuffling of footsteps confirmed she was moving away from the door.

He slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside.

The room was drenched in darkness with the main light leaking in from the window. Though there was a faint purple light emanating from a dome-shaped light source over a large terrarium.

The Viral's sharp hearing caught the sound of a hitch in the teenager's breathing. "Hey, Valeri? You care if I turn on a light?"

"Don't…"

"Somethin' wrong? You sound sick or somethin'."

"What do you care?"

"Huh?"

"What do you care?" The question was repeated, louder and more bitter than before.

"Excuse me. Thought it was fine to ask if a friend was fine or not."

There was a soft sob.

Beelzemon stepped forward, the toes of his boot bumping against Valeri's school books. "Now I _know_ there's somethin' up."

"Turn on the light."

The Viral's hand fumbled against the wall until his fingers found the light switch.

A swift flick upwards and the room was bathed in a soft light from a small fixture on the ceiling.

Valeri was sitting on her bed, her body slouched over in a dejected manner, arms draped across her lap so each hand dangled beside her legs. Her disheveled hair draped over either side of her face like a curtain.

The Viral Digimon took a few steps forward, unsure of what to do or say. "So, are ya okay or…?"

Valeri slowly lifted her head upwards. Her hair slipped away to reveal a jagged cut on her right cheek, the rest stained with tears and flecks of blood. Her bottom lip was split at the side; normally bright eyes were dull, the whites bloodshot.

"Val, what happened?!" He rushed to her and knelt down. "Did that kid hurt you? I swear, I'll kill 'im if he did."

Valeri held up her hands, which were shaking violently.

Beelzemon carefully cupped the tops of her hands in an attempt to calm her. He suddenly noticed blood smeared across her palms. "Holy…by the Sovereign, what happened?"

"He…I…" She clenched her hands together tightly.

"You got any Band-Aids or somethin'? We need to get these cuts covered up."

She gave a short nod. "There's some in my bathroom."

"M'kay. I'll be right back." He took his leave of the bedroom.

Valeri clutched her hands to her neck while she awaited the Viral's return.

Time seemed to stretch on before Beelzemon's return.

"Finally found something. I think these will work, right?" He held up a small box, giving it a shake as he spoke; the other hand held a washrag.

The human teenager gave a short nod.

"Great."

Valeri dejectedly held up her hands, palms facing upwards.

The Viral wiped the blood from her palms with the rag.

Now clean, two cuts were revealed. Each stretched diagonally, starting at the middle of her index fingers to the inner portion of her palms.

Valeri watched the Viral Digimon as he struggled to open the box.

After finally succeeding, he was faced with the greater challenge of opening the Band-Aid wrappers.

"Ugh. The hell, why are these things so freakin' hard to open?" He growled as the one he was attempting to open had its top ripped off.

Valeri took the next one the Viral pulled from the box and showed him how to open it properly.

"Oh." He smacked his palm to his helmet front.

She held out the opened Band-Aid to him, returning her hands to their previous position after he relieved her of it.

As carefully and accurately as he was able, he wrapped the first Band-Aid around her forefinger. "One down, one to go…so do I really need ta kill this kid or what? Can't tell me you fell or something, these cuts are too clean."

"I was stupid…" she murmured, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Stupid? Whatever would make you think that?"

She shut her eyes tight. A single tear leaked from under her eyelid. "I believed, but I was wrong."

Beelzemon pinched his lips in confusion as he opened another Band-Aid. _Believed what? She's practically shut down._

The rest of her hands were bandaged in silence.


	8. Rose Garden

It took quite a bit of coaxing to get Valeri to abandon the sanctuary of her room and go outside after a change of clothes.

She trailed behind the Viral, lost in her own thoughts. She absently picked at one of the Band-Aids on her finger with the fingertips of her opposite hand.

"If you peel one of those off, I'm gonna duct tape 'em."

She made a small face and stuffed her hands in her shorts pockets. "Where are you taking me?"

He shot her a mischievous grin. "I'm not tellin'."

She heaved a sigh, her shoulders slumping.

"Just wait and see."

"I don't really want to. Can I just go home…?"

"Awh, but it'll be really awesome!"

"I'm just not really feeling it. Plus it looks like it's going to rain."

"Psh. Little rain shouldn't stop you from goin' somewhere."

Valeri halted in her tracks. "Seriously. I'm going home."

Beelzemon frowned and turned to face her. "What, so you can sulk? Hide in your room? C'mon! If you do that, you let that little jerk win. You really want that?"

"I don't really care."

"Fine. Go home. Getting a few scrapes shouldn't make you act like the world ended."

"You don't get it, so don't pretend you do." Valeri said, her voice raising in pitch slightly, clearly upset with his words.

"Get what? About getting beat up? I know, more than you'll ever know. What do you think Digimon do for their lives? Try ta kill each other!"

"Dorumon didn't try to kill others, he protected them!"

"Yeah, I bet he killed the intruders, right? 'Cause that's how we get stronger. We fight and we destroy."

She turned her face away for a few moments before looking back up at the Viral, her face flushed with anger. "He still didn't kill anyone. And this isn't about any of that, anyway!"

"Then what _is_ it about?"

"It's not like you care! No one does! Everyone lies!"

Beelzemon was taken aback by the sudden change of subject and higher pitch to her voice. "What?"

"You're just pretending, like everyone else!"

"Then why did I bother comin' to see you?"

"I don't know, you feel sorry for me."

"Sorry for what? You think I'm just doin' this for sport? That's really low."

Valeri hung her head. "I…I don't know what to think anymore. I had thought I'd found a friend here."

The Viral was offended. "What you mean by that?"

"He tricked me. I spent a month. A _month_ thinking he was my friend."

Beelzemon's body relaxed slightly when he realized she was not referring to him. "Is that what this is all about?"

"He lied. Strung me along. A month. So how do I know you're not trying the same?"

"Val. Take a few minutes to think. To _really_ think about it."

The female fell silent and looked down at the pavement, fiddling again with the Band-Aid on her finger.

"Thought I said not to do that."

She stopped, clenching her fingers into fists. She hiccupped suddenly from a suppressed sob, then burst into tears as a realization overcame her. _A fake friend wouldn't chide me like that._

The outburst caused the Viral to take a step back. "Urm."

It took a few moments before Valeri wiped at her tears, wincing when her finger came in contact with the cut on her cheek. "So where did you say you were taking me?"

Beelzemon forced a small smile. "I didn't tell ya."

"Okay. Let's go."

"You sure?"

She nodded.

"Well, all right, then." He turned partially, making sure to keep her in sight, and walked a few steps.

Valeri followed silently as she had before.

Beelzemon slowed until he was walking next to her. "I'm sorry 'bout yelling at you earlier."

"You were in the right. I was just…please. I'm sorry. Things have just been stressful. Moving here, being treated so terribly. And just when I really thought someone liked me, for me."

"So, what am I, chopped liver?" he asked teasingly.

"I don't mean it like that, honest."

"I know, I'm just messin' with you."

"I just…feel so betrayed."

Beelzemon gave her a sympathetic look. "Oh, um. Not to interrupt but…"

"Hm?"

They had come to a white rose bush, its base surrounded by mulch chips.

She looked at it in confusion. "Is this what you wanted to show me?"

"No." He knelt down, motioning for her to do the same.

She did so, unsure of what was going on. She blinked in surprise when she spied a smaller stem, about seven inches tall, off away from the main bush, poking up through the mulch. "Why is that one so far away?"

"It's a cutting."

"A cutting?"

"Yeah. It's been cut from a full grown plant."

"Oh. Wait. Is this what you meant before, about your job?"

A small grin pulled the corner of his lips. "Yeah. Kinda. I wanted to come check on it, see how it was doin'. The rain we had recently has helped keep it moist, so no need for watering."

"So…why is there a cutting?"

"Have another color to go with the white, here. This cutting is from a yellow variety. Anyway, this isn't what I wanted to show you."

"Oh?"

"C'mon." He could not stop a large grin from plastering itself to his face as he started off deeper into the park.

Valeri expected to have stopped by the time they reached what was known as the end of the park, but the Viral continued onwards, through a large amount of undergrowth.

"Here we are." He flourished his arm as he spoke.

The stone wall, barely taller than the Viral, was covered in climbing ivy. A deep green door, clear of any ivy, was embedded in the wall before them.

"What?"

Beelzemon opened the door and ushered her inside.

Within, there were 8x10 rows of large ceramic pots, each filled with soil and an upside down Mason jar in the middle of the interior. Opposite the final row was a large metal table with various items: clippers, unused mason jars, large black tubs full of moist soil.

She turned to look at the Digimon, to find a large arched trellis had been built over the door with a variety of climbing rose, whose chrome yellow blooms were trimmed with bright red edges.

"What is this place?"

"The rose nursery."

"A nursery?"

"Yeah, Nan keeps up with all the roses in the park. There's other people who take care of the rest. Hrm. Wonder where she is. Oh. There's just one more thing to show you, if you're interested. Nan actually might be out there."

"Okay."

The Viral led her out to the backside of the building.

The sight before the teenager stole her breath away.

A patio had been set up with the edging and accents consisting of a variety of roses of different sizes and bloom colorations. Each opening was decorated with an arched trellis, just as the nursery door had been, but each held a different color of rose bloom.

The air permeated with a mixture of fragrances wafting from the blooms.

"Nan! You here?"

An older woman's voice immediately answered. "Oh, my little honey bee, is that you?"

Beelzemon cringed slightly at the use of his pet name. He shot Valeri a quick look to try to note her reaction; she was busily looking over a nearby bush. "Yeah, yeah. I brought a friend."  
"Did you? Oh, I'm so happy. I'll be there in just a moment. These _Aimée Vibert_ need extra pruning."  
"No big deal, Nan."

While the human female went to each bush to observe and smell the different colors and fragrances, Beelzemon settled himself down on one of the stone benches. He quickly became lost in thought over their argument. _Still not entirely sure what happened. Wonder who betrayed her? Can't been that kid, she didn't act friendly to him before. Really irks me she was caused to be that upset, and her injuries._

"Oh, my little honey bee, you've brought such a pretty friend!"

He looked up when he heard the older woman's voice to see Valeri blushing profusely.

The owner of the voice was a woman in her mid-sixties, garbed in her usual gardening attire: a t-shirt beneath light green bib overalls, whose pockets located throughout the torso were filled to the brim with materials, kneepads and black rubber-topped boots. The final piece was the floppy straw hat. Leather suede gloves of a matching green to her overalls protected her arms from the vicious thorns. One gloved hand held a rather fierce looking pair of pruners.

"Hello, dearie," She smiled warmly. Her smile faded quickly. "Oh, honey. What's wrong with your face? Here, let me fix that up for you." She removed her gloves to set them on the nearest seat and pulled a small first aid kit from a side pouch.

Valeri blinked in surprise as she watched the woman take out a small packet of antibiotic ointment and a medium sized gauze pad. She glanced over at Beelzemon to find him smiling.

"Uhm."

Nan quickly and deftly applied the ointment and placed the gauze, stuffing the remnants of the packaging inside one of her pockets.

"Thank you." Valeri mumbled.

"Nan's super motherly."

Nan laughed. "I've reared two of my own, and have been blessed with two grandchildren. But you, little rogue that you were, got the most injuries out of all of them put together."

Beelzemon stuck his tongue at Nan.

"I always had to carry extra bandages, just because he couldn't help but fall into the bushes."

"Hard to prune when the things were nearly the size I was." he said defensively.

"Should be quite easy now, right? You've grown double and now have proper clothes."

"Yeah, yeah."

"It brings my heart joy to see my little bee's found a friend. He's spent many a day helping me with the roses. They greatly appreciated the extra care. Then he went away."

"Yeah, but I came back, didn't I? I told you I would. Just tired of…yeah."

"I trusted you would. But where have you been? And when did you return?"

"Er. I've been back for a few days, but I just was running around. They tore down my place."

Nan's fingers flew to her lips. "Oh dear. I did hear they were renovating the outskirts to extend the city limits. Hm. Have you found a new place?"

Beelzemon shook his head. "No, not really."

"You know my home is always free. The children moved out long ago. I have the grandchildren over the weekends. I'm sure they would love to play with you."

"Thanks, Nan. I'll probably take you up on the offer."

Suddenly Nan turned to Valeri. "I've been so rude! I am Ms. Charlotte, but everyone calls me Nan. What is your name, dear?"

"I'm Valeri."

"It is a pleasure to meet you."  
"So you have a nursery?"

"Yes, I do. I've been the caretaker for the roses here in the park. They are heirlooms and need special care. I take cuttings and help them grow to replace older bushes."

"This place is so beautiful."

Nan smiled broadly. "I made this little space myself. Some of the heirlooms here have come from other places, so they may be introduced to the park after they are deemed acceptable. The ones here are mother stock."

While Nan showed Valeri around, telling her about each plant, Beelzemon stayed where he was, having known all the information by heart already. He found it amusing to see how excited the younger human female seemed to be.

After surveying the rose bushes, the trio moved back to the nursery.

"The cuttings are lookin' good, Nan. What's the status of the ones in the pots?"

Nan pulled a 4x8 map from the wall above the table and flattened it out on the table's surface. "We actually have some rooted cuttings that need transferred to their new locations."

"Where you putting them? I've been all over a couple days ago checking on ones I've found."

"You're so thoughtful of them."

"Ah, you know me, been doin' it for so long."

Valeri surveyed the map while the pair talked. It was of the park, with different colored dots in locations she assumed roses were planted, with tiny numbers inside. A legend on the left side depicted what rose variety each color was, confirming her first idea.

Nan pointed to a beige dot. "This one here, unfortunately, needs to be taken out. The poor dear. Someone must have wanted to take blooms but did not know the proper techniques or proper times to cut. Several canes were not cut properly and contracted cane blight. I tried to remove the infected canes, but when I went out earlier today I found the rest were infested with Botrytis Blight."

Beelzemon frowned deeply at the news. "I thought they weren't supposed to take any blooms to begin with."

"No, they're not. But I suppose they're too beautiful to resist when they open. So it needs removed and taken to the burn pile. After we disinfect the area, we should be able to replace it."

"Yeah, we'll have to be careful. Don't want the cutting to contract cane blight, too."

"Would you care to help me?"

"Of course, Nan. It's no problem. Though, Valeri, here probably can't. Don't want her doing anything to take off the bandages."

Valeri looked up when she heard her name. "Hm?"

"Oh, that's no problem, she can stay here with me and pot up the new cuttings I gathered up."

"I can do what?"

Nan gave her a smile. "Help pot up the new cuttings, if you would like to."

"Oh. Can I do that?" She looked down at the Band-Aids on her palms.

"Yes, of course. I have a pair of gloves you could try on. I've done many a task wearing bandages before, so it can be done."

"Really?"

"Yes, rose thorns can be quite unforgiving, even if it's in the rose's best interest."

"No kiddin'." Beelzemon said with a snort.

Nan laughed heartily at his reaction, knowing full well what he meant.

Many a time when he was a Rookie, he'd return with a multitude of nicks, scratches, and thorns stuck to his furry body and gloves.

"Anywho. I'll go see about that bush that needs removing." He set about gathering the required materials: a large plastic bag, a spade, watering container full of water, and a pair of pruners.

Valeri watched him, marveling as the pile grew larger. "Are you going to be able to carry all of that?"

"Hrm? Sure, 'course. I'm not a shrimp like I used to be." As he spoke, he took up the spade in one hand, slinging it across his shoulder, and used the other to place the bag and pruners in to his belt. Once they were placed properly he picked up the water pitcher with his free hand. He grinned at her. "See?"

She nodded. "I'll get the door for you."

"Thanks. Don't let Nan push you around too much."

"Oh, you!" Nan laughed and shooed him out the door.

Once he was gone, the pair set to work transferring older cuttings to temporary pots and replacing them with newer cuttings after the pots had been cleaned and sanitized.


	9. Not So Thrilled

Valeri and Beelzemon were sitting in the kitchen, chatting about the work they had done.

"That was a lot of fun. I never knew there were so many different types of roses. And potting them up was a lot of fun."

"Yeah, it's pretty neat. Removin' the suckers, is not as fun, though."

"I'll say, you were gone for like an hour."

"It was a decent size, what was left of it. So mad someone hacked at it like they did. Looked like they used a pocket knife."

"So what did you do with it?"

"I dug it out and hauled it off to the burn pile. Burned all the trimming and the bush."

"So what exactly is the burn pile?"

"It's literally this hole we made in a barren area and covered to stop any stray ashes from escaping."

"Interesting. Do you guys have to use it often?"

"Nah. We do use it to make sure anything that has a disease is destroyed, so it doesn't spread. Otherwise the trimmings go to the compost pile Nan made up at her home to use later."

"That's really neat. I'm glad you showed me."

"I had hoped it would bring you out of your slump."

The pair turned their heads simultaneously upon hearing the loud clicking of heels and a deep, stern female voice resounding from the hallway.

"Yes, Kimberly, we're going in tomorrow to court. Make sure you have all the papers filed away in my office."

In walked a sophisticated looking woman around her mid-forties with caramel blonde hair put into a smooth bun, neutral make-up and a deep matte red lipstick. Her business attire consisted of a sky blue silk blouse, navy blazer, navy pants, and a black pair of pumps. Her jewelry consisted of a silver necklace with a deep blue stone and matching bracelet and earrings, and a Bluetooth device. She sported a satchel on one shoulder.

She halted mid-speech, a look of surprise to her face. "Kimberly, I'll call you later."

Valeri bit her lip.

Valeri's mother's expression changed, her lips set in a line and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "What is this _thing_ doing in my house? You _know_ I don't abide them in my house!"

Beelzemon turned to Valeri, who had her hands hidden and her head down. _Oh boy._ He turned his head back to Valeri's mother. "Urm. I'll just be going, then."

"Out. Don't let me catch you in here again or I'll call the cops on you."

"Yeesh." he muttered under his breath.

It was an awkward moment as the Viral passed by the clearly livid older woman, he could feel the anger radiating from her. He gave one last glance at Valeri, who had not changed her posture, before departing for hallway.

Valeri's mother stood in the hallway, glaring him down as he put on his boots.

Valeri suddenly appeared, quickly squeezing past her mother and darting down the stairs.

"Val, come back here!" her mother called after her.

"Just leave her be."

"You be quiet! Do not tell me what to do with my daughter. Get out of my house, now."

He was practically pushed out the front door as the older female human stalked towards him, quickly closing the space between the pair.

"Okay, okay!"

Downstairs in her room, Valeri sat on her bed, head in hands as she wept silently. Once again, her mother had chased off one of the only friends she had made. She knew from experience, a long talk of how she could never see him again was soon to ensue.

Sure enough, the bedroom door rattled as her mother's fist wracked against it. "Valeri, open this door right now!"

Valeri quickly wiped her face off on her sleeves. "It's not locked!"

The door swung inwards, revealing her mother in the doorway.

"I am quite shocked with you, little missy. We had this talk already, why would you go against my rules?"

"Sorry."

"Sorry? Really, Valeri. You're supposed to be the most mature out of the pair of you. Yet here I found you've allowed one of those creatures into my house, _again_. A whole new place, to boot! Wait. What's wrong with your face? Why is it bandaged? That creature hurt you, didn't it?"

"No, Mother. A _human_ did!"

Her mother placed a hand against her own cheek. "Oh. Oh my…who was it?"

"Dagger."

"That boy did seem to be trouble…"

"That's not the worst of it all. Do you remember me telling you about Ricario?"

"Yes, I do, vaguely. The boy that sat with you at lunch and talked to you about your art. He seemed like a nice boy."

Valeri picked several ripped and crumpled pieces of paper off the floor, splotches of a rusty red color stained the picture. "This is what he thought of my gift for him."

Her mother came over and sat on the bed beside her daughter, putting her arms about her comfortingly. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry."

Valeri began sobbing. "No one here likes me, and you chased off my only friend."

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I didn't know this would happen. I just wanted us to be far enough away from your…" She sighed softly. "I'll look for a new town for us to go to. Perhaps then you'll be able to find new friends. Yuri might not be too thrilled, but she makes friends easily so…"

This only made the teenager burst into a new fit of tears.

Her mother sighed, seemingly trying to hide some small annoyance as she rubbed her daughter's shoulder. "There, there. We can discuss it later, when you're less upset. I'll be upstairs making dinner," She clicked something on her Bluetooth device and spoke after a short time. "Yes, Kimberly…" The rest of the conversation was cut off as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Valeri buried her face in her lap after her mother left, sobbing profusely.

Beelzemon was traversing through the outer areas of the park, checking up on the newly planted rose cuttings Nan had placed the previous day.

He knelt down at one, having noticed the mulch had been dug away. "Hrm. Might've been a dog." He set to replacing the mulch.

"I've found you!"

Beelzemon threw a look over his shoulder at the strange female voice. "Huh?"

The voice belonged to a teenage female with flared jet-black hair and deep green eyes. Her clothing consisted of a denim jacket over a t-shirt, cargo shorts, and tennis shoes.

Next to her was a child-sized bright pink bird with purple accents and a bright orange beak, which Beelzemon knew to be a Biyomon.

"Oh, not _you_ again," he grumbled. He stood up, dusting the mulch chips from his gloves on his pant legs. "What do you want?"

The female was checking her D-Arc. "A Mega, huh? Should be easy to deal with, anyway."

"Serena," the Biyomon said in a pleading voice. "I don't like this idea. He's a Mega. We'd have to Biomerge just to be equal in power."

"Be quiet! We'll be fine. You just have to go Ultimate, we have enough power for that! I can help you with my deck."

"But Serena-!" Biyomon was cut off as Serena tapped her beak with a blue card.

"I'd listen to your bag of feathers there, girlie," Beelzemon said, folding his arms. "Mega level ain't something to scoff at. I know how you Tamers here are. Chasing off everyone. I'm not even doing anything. So, I suggest we just go on our merry ways, giving you one chance."

"Digimon being here in town without a Tamer is against our law! You will leave immediately or be expunged."

"'Law'? I'm not leaving. You can't chase me out again, I won't let you."

"Then face my wrath! Biyomon!"

"Got it!" Biyomon took a running jump.

The Mega Viral fell into a fighting stance. "Stupid kid."

As the Rookie reached the peak of her jump, her Tamer slid the blue Digivolution card through her D-Arc.

"Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution, activate!"

Biyomon's body was stripped to the core data. "Biyomon Matrix Digivolve to…" It was quickly recompiled into a growing mass, two arms and long clawed feet, until a Digimon resembling a giant humanoid red hawk with yellow hair and half a helmet covering its head remained.

"Garudamon! Garudamon Pressure!"

Beelzemon managed to leap backwards in time before the bird Digimon drove her large taloned foot into him. "Damn, that's a big bag of feathers, now."

Now that Garudamon was on the ground, she easily dwarfed the Mega.

Serena laughed and held up her D-Arc. "You're in for it now!"

Beelzemon flexed his claws, which had begun to pulse with a dark energy. "Yeah, yeah."


	10. Death's Door

Valeri was busying herself with chores around the house to fend off her growing depression. Beelzemon had not shown up since the day her mother forced him out. Though in reality it was just two days, to her, it felt a lifetime.

She was mopping up the kitchen when she heard knocking at the glass door; hard with long pauses between each. Her heart leapt to her throat. "Could it be him?" She dropped the mop and hurried to the door, nearly slipping on the wet floor.

Drawing closer to the door, she could see a black silhouette. "It must be him. No one else is that tall."

She quickly pulled open the door. "Beelzemon I'm so-what happened?!" she exclaimed, horrified by the sight before her.

The Mega Viral was using the doorframe as support as his other arm held his chest. The material beneath was torn to shreds, blood dribbled down his gloved fingers as the rest of the injuries fizzled from the damaged data. Patches of smeared soil and grass stains stuck out amongst the blackness of his bodysuit.

The smells of burnt leather, freshly disturbed earth, and blood filled the teenager's nostrils and she covered her mouth and nose with her hand to stop herself from gagging. "Oh, God."

"Val, I…" He grunted in pain and started to slide down the frame as his strength gave out.

"Hold on!" Valeri quickly took the arm that had held onto the doorframe and put it about her shoulders in an attempt to hold him up. She herself nearly toppled to the porch floor as most of his weight transferred over to her. "Urg. You're so heavy."

"Sorry…it's all muscle, y'know?" He gave a weak laugh, then groaned from the action of moving.

"Let's get you inside. What happened?"

"One of those Tamers thought she'd kick me out. I underestimated her."

"Do you think you can make it down the stairs?"

"I can try."

Valeri followed behind the Viral as they made their way downstairs. She noted the back of his jacket was torn just as the front was, blood dribbled down from the wounds to drop onto the floor.

Once Beelzemon was safely settled down in Valeri's desk chair, she hurried upstairs to gather medical supplies.

The Viral leaned back in the chair slowly. "Can't believe that sack of feathers managed to best me." He winced and closed his eyes.

Valeri returned after a short time with an armful of various materials: several rolls of medical tape, gauze pads, cotton wraps, ointments, and a pair of scissors. "All right, here we are. I'm not really sure what to do…"

"I'll be fine."

"No, your wounds need tended to. First, I need to see how bad they really are," She attempted to pull the torn leather, but found a large portion had melded to the Digimon's flesh. The more she pulled, the more the surrounding wounds fizzled. "Oh, my…what is going on?"

"I'm made of data, my wounds are actin' up."

"What…what should I do?"

"Just leave them be."

"B-but you're bleeding!"

"It'll stop. Eventually."

"I just…just need to stop the bleeding." The teenager's nerves were getting the best of her. Her body was shaking uncontrollably as she tried to open one of the gauze packs, she had seen what had happened to injured Digimon during her time in Jered's company.

"You're freakin' out for no reason, seriously…oh, no, don't cry!"

Tears were spilling unchecked down Valeri's cheeks. "I can't…I…" She hiccupped and wiped at her eyes with her shirt sleeve. Drawing in a deep breath to calm herself, she turned to the Digimon. "I will not let you die."

"Die? I am not…" His voice trailed off and his red-wine eyes lowered to the wounds across his front. Now even the healthier parts were fizzling as the data particles broke apart. _It was a bad idea to come here, I'd been better off fizzling out in the park. 'Least I wouldn't have to see her cry. I just…wanted to see her again._

Valeri quickly covered the wounds with the gauze in her hand.

Beelzemon yelped from the new flair of pain that blossomed from under the gauze.

"Sorry, sorry." She did not remove the gauze, despite his evident pain. She set about taping gauze pads to any place blood could be seen.

Despite her best efforts to bandage him, his body continued to de-stabilize.

"No, no. What do I do?" She spoke more to herself than to him.

He spoke in the most consoling way he was able. "Calm down, Valeri. Please."

"How can I be calm when you're dying?! I can't…please, I don't want to be alone. You're the only real friend I have." She took his hand between her own, ignoring the several nicks his clawtips inflicted on the top of her left one.

He gave her a forced grin. "Glad you finally came around."

"It's not funny!"

"Just had me worried before."

"I…I'm sorry I had doubted you before."

He gave her hand a squeeze. "No worries. Urg…" He grimaced.

"Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I swear…"

"Stop lying."

"I am not. I just…need a little rest."

"No! You have to stay awake."

"Oh, c'mon, I don't have a concussion."

"I-I know. But…"

The Digimon suddenly yowled in pain and doubled over, tearing his hand free from Valeri's.

She backed up as he toppled to the floor. "No, no, no!" She knelt down beside him.

His entire body was turning fuzzy, like an old television's screen. _This is taking longer than I thought it would. All the others I fought just burst into data. Haven't seen one deteriorate like I am. Is this some kind of punishment?_

Valeri was too upset to speak anymore, the only thing she could do was cling to his body. _Please, please, please, don't leave me. Why isn't there anything I can do to help? Why am I so useless? All I can do is watch my friend die. I beg with everything I have, someone help me save him._

An orb of light materialized in front of the young woman's face. She stared at it, mesmerized. "What is…?" She held out cupped hands as the light floated downwards.

It disappeared, leaving behind a device. The base was a white color, with accents of a deep eggplant purple color with a matching strap. "A…a D-Arc?" Her hands moved before she knew what she was even doing. She placed the device on the Digimon's body.

His body reacted sporadically, then finally began to stabilize.

Valeri breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Thank you, thank you." she whispered to whatever power had heard her pleas.

Once his body had completely re-compiled itself, Valeri helped move him to her bedroom and on to the bed. The danger of his death had passed, but his injuries still remained.

His strength was almost completely gone; he simply lay against the wall, semi-conscious as Valeri removed his arm guards and gloves. "You strippin' me?" he asked teasingly, his voice strained and low.

The teenager blushed profusely. "Hush, save your energy."

He nodded and let his eyes close partially.

It took some effort to remove his jacket with the position he was in.

Careful and slow snips of the scissors removed the parts of the bodysuit's torso that had been damaged.

With the material gone, the true damage he had sustained was revealed. Despite using the D-Arc, none of the wounds had been closed, though the bleeding had subsided.

His flesh had been scored deeply across his chest, back and stomach. Rivets of dried blood clung to his skin. Some places bore second-degree burns in various sizes.

"I'm going to need to get some aloe and more gauze. I'll be right back, okay? Just…keep hold of this." She placed the D-Arc in his hand and closed his fingers over it.

He blinked groggily. "Huh…?"

"I'll be right back."

He looked down at his hand in confusion. "Wha…? Where did she get this?" Despite his curiosity, his eyelids felt too heavy to keep open.

An intense, painful throbbing from the left side of his chest brought the injured Digimon to his senses. He groaned and shifted his body. His hand strayed to the area, stopping when his fingers met with fur.

Shadow was splayed out across the area that was giving him a fit.

The sleepy kitten purred contentedly as Beelzemon absently stroked his head.

It took a short while before the Digimon even registered the white and tan colors on various portions of his torso. _What are these? Bandages…I think…Oh, Val._ He blinked heavily and looked around until his gaze came to rest on the slumped over form of the human female.

She was knelt down at the bedside, her head resting on one folded arm, the other held the D-Arc loosely against his side.

His hand moved in slow, halting movements until his fingertips came to a stop on the top of her hand.

Her body jerked violently and she quickly raised her head. A look of relief lit up her face as her eyes focused. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Like crap. How long have I been out?"

"Um," Valeri pulled her cell phone from her pocket and looked at it. "It's six twenty-two. So about three hours."

"Damn." He grimaced as his lungs attempted to fill themselves, the expanding ribcage felt sore and tender.

"Are you hurting?"

"I'm fine. Just sore."

"You should rest more."

"I will."

"Do you want me to move Shadow? I'm sure it doesn't feel comfortable, he's not that big but…"

"He's fine."

"Okay…"

"You shouldn't sleep on the floor."

She placed a hand against her forehead. "I didn't even realize I went to sleep, I was just sitting here."

"Where'd you get these?" He pointed to several cuts on the top of her hand.

"Oh, I um. Not sure…" she said sheepishly, not wanting to admit he had given to her by accident.

"Mm. Okay…" He yawned and made a face of pain.

"Mrow." Shadow trilled and butted at the Digimon's chin.

"Aw. He says to get better."

"Eh? You understand him?"

"Well. I'm assuming by his actions, it would be something he'd say." The corners of her lips lifted into a smile.

Beelzemon gave the small kitten's head a light pat. "Thanks."

Valeri got to her feet slowly, stretching her sore limbs. "Urg. Do you need anything? Don't be shy to ask."

"Just some more sleep. In a lotta pain. Everything's throbbing."

"I could get some medicine."

"It's fine, I'll live."

Valeri moved towards the door. "Be right back."

"Wait, Val-damn." He turned his attention back to the kitten on his chest, who had laid back down with his head pushed up against the Viral's neck. After a short while his vision began to blur and he was unable to remain focused on anything, he closed his eyes to relieve them of the strain.


	11. Recuperation

Several days passed. The Viral spent most of his time sleeping, occasionally waking so Valeri could change out the bandages and apply more ointments to his wounds or force him to eat.

The teenager kept herself preoccupied with tending to him. She stayed in her room as long as she was able, even skipping out on her last classes to come home early each day, mainly going out to fix food and buy more materials to keep his wounds cleansed and bandaged.

"I'm sorry I kicked you outta your bed." Beelzemon said apologetically after he moved to sit at the edge of the bed.

Valeri was removing the old bandages from his wounds. "I don't care one bit. I'm just glad you're feeling better."

"Yeah. I'm really grateful. For everything. You never had to do any of it."

"You're my friend, and now my Partner. Of course I'd take care of you."

"I suppose so. Nan's really been the only person to be so kind to me. You'd think I'd be used to getting hurt, after the run in with all those thorns when I was a Rookie, and fighting to get to Mega level."

"She injured you really badly. You couldn't be used to that."

"Eh…" He shrugged.

Valeri examined one of the lacerations, now almost fully closed. She found herself slightly warm in the face when her eyes strayed over the rest of his muscular chest. "They're looking really good, now."  
"Luckily, Digimon heal pretty quick. Some of them just itch, now."

"I have some lotion for itches, mostly supposed to be for bug bites, but I'm sure it would work."

"Whatever works."

"One second."

He watched as she dug through the small dresser near the bed. After a few minutes, she turned around, a large plastic bottle in hand.

The label had been removed to be replaced by a paper with a draconic creature that had the appearance of a seahorse and small background of corals in base colors.

"Oh, um. I got bored." she said after a few moments, having noted him looking at the label.

"So you like drawin' on things?"

"Sometimes, yeah. I just get an urge to doodle."

"Erm. How you puttin' that on?"

"Ahm…" She blushed slightly. "I could get a cotton swab."

"That'd be fine."

She got to her feet and hurried out of the room.

With her gone, the Viral took the opportunity to look over his bare chest and stomach. He probed at one of the lacerations, checking to see how deep it was.

"Hey, stop that, you'll break it open." Valeri chided as she walked into the room, a fistful of cotton swabs in one hand.

Beelzemon made a face at her, sticking his tongue out. "Neh."

She made a face in retaliation, wrinkling her nose. "Least you're feeling well enough to be a brat."

He gave her a small grin. "Yeh."

Valeri pulled her chair up so it was close to the Viral. She pumped out a little lotion onto a swab. "Okay, this is going to be kinda cold."

"Eck." Beelzemon sucked in a quick breath as the lotion made contact with one of the healing burn wound, his body shuddering from the change in temperature.

"Sorry."

Several moments ticked by as Valeri tried to no avail to cover the wounds the Digimon pointed out that itched with the cotton swabs. The ash-blonde resorted to using her first two fingers to rub in the thickly layered lotion into one of the burn wounds on his chest, as she had done before with the ointments.

The Viral was sent into a state of euphoria. His head tilted backwards slightly and his eyes closed, shifting all his focus to the sensation. His tail, with a mind of its own, curled and uncurled so that the tip thumped against the wall.

Valeri blushed profusely when she heard a noise, what she determined to be a deep throated moan of content. It sent a shiver down her spine. But her determination to give her Partner the utmost care to ensure his wounds healed properly fueled her to keep rubbing lotion into the other burn wounds, albeit with a lighter motion.

Beelzemon snapped out of his state when Valeri's fingernails brushed against a sensitive part of his flesh, causing a flare up of pain. "Ack."

Valeri jerked her hand away as soon as she had felt her nails hit his skin. "I'm so sorry!"

"Eh, I'm fine."

She nodded but kept her hand to her collarbone. After a few moments of surveying, she noticed two remaining globs. "There's just two left."

"I could-" the Viral was cut off as the teenager pressed her fingertips into one of the globs. He sighed quietly through his nose and his eyelids drooped partially. "…or you could."

"I just think it's better for me to do it, my nails are not as long or sharp as your claws are."

"Good point, I suppose. Feels nice, too."

Valeri nodded slightly. "I have a question to ask."

"Shoot."

"Why did you come to me? When you were first injured."

"Oh, um. I…not really sure. I guess you were closest."

"But what about Nan? Didn't you say you were attacked in the park?"

"I was, yeah."

"So then she'd been closer."

He pinched his lips together.

"So why did you really?"

His shoulders moved in a slight shrug.

Valeri sighed quietly but did not press the matter further.

Once the wounds were completely lotioned and ointments applied, they were swiftly re-bandaged.

Beelzemon opened his mouth to speak, but a yawn spilled out instead. He gave his head a light shake after cutting off the yawn. "Why am I yawning? All I've been doin' is sleeping."

"Your body is just healing, and sleep is better than being up and about."

The Viral huffed and put on a pouting face. "But I wanna get up and go check on Nan."

"I'm sure she's doing fine. You'll just get scolded. Or worse, that Tamer could find you."

"But since you're my Tamer now, she can't do anything. Only 'wild' Digimon aren't allowed in town."

"She won't believe you unless I'm there."

"Yeah. Suppose-" He was cut off by another yawn.

"How about you nap for a while and I'll go make us food."

"Hrm…what kind?"

"The kind you eat." she replied teasingly.

"Smart-alec. But seriously…what'cha gonna make?"

"Anything in particular that you want?"

"Not off the top of my head."

"I was thinking tacos. We have salsa and chips, too."

"Sounds fine to me." He nestled himself into the small mound of pillows Valeri had procured for him.

Valeri picked up a sheet from the edge of the bed and made to drape it over him.

Beelzemon's arms quickly encircled the teenager, causing her to squeak in surprise, pulling her down so her chin was resting against his shoulder.

"B-Be-Beelzemon, what are you doing?!" She managed a stammered question after a few moments.

He pulled her back from him, an embarrassed grin to his features. "Your face looks funny bright red."

She made a distressed noise and sloppily put the sheet over him before hurrying from the room.

The Viral laughed quietly to himself at having made her so flustered and repositioned the sheet before closing his eyes to nap.


	12. Kazel

Beelzemon was sitting on the bed, looking over his ruined jacket. "Jeez…"

Once he had finished, he removed the bandana from it. It was in surprisingly good condition compared to the rest of the jacket. With some effort, he managed to tie it about his upper arm.

With that out of the way, he went about looking at the room he had been residing in.

Besides the full sized bed pushed against the wall, there were a variety of other furniture pieces: a small desk and chair, several bookcases filled to the brim, and a nightstand. Wall shelves of varying lengths were situated near the bookcases, holding dragon figurines, ranging from small black ceramic to larger full-colored, some were candle holders and one was an hourglass. The wall near the desk was covered in sketches, mainly different angles of a snake's head and body, eye sketches and pattern arrangements, one paper was a spreadsheet of information. The desk itself held a twenty gallon glass terrarium and a small spray bottle filled with water.

Investigation of the terrarium did not reveal its occupant, but showed that it was filled with many different items: the bottom was covered in light brown mulch, one side held a branch reaching up towards the dark bulb located outside the terrarium with a piece of fake log located beneath it, a stone-looking dish filled with water was placed near the side of the log, and a thermometer was close to the hiding place. A small terra cotta pot, upside down, was on the other side of the enclosure with another thermometer close by. The mesh cover had two locks, one on each side, with 3/4ths of it covered by a thin plastic.

"You trying to find Kazel?"

Beelzemon's body jerked involuntarily at the voice, whom he already knew belonged to Valeri.

She laughed lightly. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Psh, I wasn't scared."

"Mmmhmmm…"

"So there's something actually in here?"

"Yep. My ball python."

"Er? What's that?"

"A ball python is a type of nonvenomous snake. Let me see if I can coax him out." She pulled a key from within her desk drawer and proceeded to undo the locks on the cover.

She pulled the top off, along with the plastic, and set it carefully on the table. "Let's see…where are you hiding, little guy?" She slowly lifted the terra cotta pot, revealing an exotically patterned coiled up snake. "Ah-hah."

Beelzemon watched as she reached down, off to the side of the snake, and started brushing her fingertips gently against its side.

The snake reacted by wiggling around, coiling itself tighter.

"The best way to pick him up, let him know you're not going to hurt him, then very, very gently slide your fingers up under his belly," As she spoke, she slid her fingers beneath the snake until he was within her palm. "And lift him out," She pulled him out slowly and held him up to show Beelzemon. "Isn't he a beauty?"

Now that the python was closer, the Viral was able to see his patterns and colors better. His main body was a peachy-gold with deep orange sides and different patterns of faded grey lines; some were long and straight barbed-wire like, others were like cracks in glass. Between each of the lines was one dot of varying diameters, depending on the thickness of the area, the smallest being but a pinprick size and the thickest the size of a pen-cap. The inner portions and underside had drippings of white. The head had a different pattern with the lines outlining his face and encompassing his neck with two traveling in from his snout and through his eyes to meet with the outer lines. "I've never seen a snake colored like that before."

"He's what they call a 'morph.' Other ball pythons with different dominant and recessive genes were bred to make a new one. This one is called a HoneyBee Ghost. He has Spider and Orange Ghost attributes. They're mainly the colorations and patterns that you see. The patterns come from the Spider, and the colors from the Ghost."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I read up on it after I got him from a breeder. They told me some about him as they had both his parents."

By now the snake had started moving around, flicking its tongue out occasionally. It moved out towards Beelzemon.

"It seems he's curious about you. I'm usually the only one around him, since Mom and Sis aren't particularly fond of snakes. Do you want to hold him?"

"Urm…I ah, dunna?"

"Here," She held the snake up towards the Viral. "Put out both your hands."

The Viral did as he was instructed.

Valeri carefully uncoiled Kazel from her hand and placed his lower half in Beelzemon's right hand, and the upper portion in his left.

Kazel responded by latching his bottom half around the Viral's hand and arm.

"He's supposed to do that," Valeri said soothingly, seeing the look on Beelzemon's face. "He's just a little frightened by being in someone else's hands." She pet on the snake's sides with her fingertips.

"Feels really weird, too."

"Heh. I guess it does."

"I um…I think he wants you to take him back."

Valeri pet the snake a few seconds more before unlatching him from Beelzemon's hands.

The Viral watched her as she let the snake traverse some around her hands and arms before finally placing him back in the terrarium.

After the locks were shut with definitive clicks, the key was put away and plastic replaced, Valeri gave the inside a good spritzing with the spray bottle.

"I don't know, I guess I'm weird for liking snakes and reptiles. I'd have more if Mom would let me, but I had to beg and promise I'd keep all his feeders out of the freezer upstairs. So I have a mini freezer in the other room."

"Feeders?"

"Yeah, since he's about a thousand and ninety-three grams, he eats a medium rat once or twice a week."

"A rat?" Beelzemon made a face of disgust.

"Well, yes, what else is a snake going to eat? He's a carnivore."

"True but still…ick."

She laughed quietly.

Beelzemon turned his attention towards the statues on the wall. "You have an awful lot of dragons."

"You really think so?" She looked in the same direction. "I suppose I might have a few."

"So what makes you so interested in them?"

"Hm? Oh, well…it's rather hard for me to explain. They're just so magnificent. You can make them however you want, and they can't be wrong. They can be large and frightening with big teeth and claws, or small and adorable with tiny teeth and stubby claws," She made hand gestures to emphasize her points on the sizes. "Guardians or destroyers. Different descents, like American or Oriental. It's just how you perceive them to be."

"Hm. I'm not big on comin' up with things like that. I did notice you had a lot of Digimon, too."

She nodded. "I find their designs intriguing. And I met some of them, too, so it was even better."

"But you're not good with drawing humans?"

"Well I…guess I find them too boring to draw. Yes, there are differences in styles, skin-tones, hair, blemishes, height, weight…but it doesn't… _feel_ the same. It's not as exhilarating as creating a new creature, attaching your own personality to it. Or even just adding your own flairs."

"So, what do you think of human-like?"

"What do you mean?"

"Urm. Like those ones that have hands and stand on two legs."

"I like those, too. It's the same concept. Humans themselves cannot be changed as drastically as a mythical type creature."

"Oh." His whole body relaxed and a small sigh of relief escaped him.

Valeri smiled. "Did you think I didn't find you interesting because you're a humanoid?"

"Er, th-that is not what I meant, I was simply curious!"

"Uh-huh."

"I was!"

"If it's any consolidation, I do find your form interesting. Humanoid but with enough differences to stand out."

"I don't exactly have a body full of scales."

Valeri covered her mouth as she burst into a fit of giggles.

"It's not funny!" he said huffily, folding his arms across his chest.

Both turned towards the location of the stairs when they heard footsteps.

"Oh, no…"

Beelzemon's lips set into a thin line. If it was Valeri's mother, another confrontation was bound to ensue.

"Vaaaaaaaaaaal!" Yuri's bubbly voice echoed through the room.

The pair relaxed.

Yuri's head poked around the corner. "Val, Mom wants to talk to you. Like, right now…oh!" She came to stand in the middle of the doorway, showing off her halter top and skirt that ended just below her thighs. "It's that guy again. Oooh, no shirt. Hehe."

Beelzemon set his hand near his hip. "What she want her for?"

"I don't know, she just had me come get her."

"Which means, that's a bad sign," Valeri said quietly. "I'll be back soon…" She made her way past her sister.

Beelzemon was left with the elder sister, who was looking him over, a glint to her eye.

"So why do you have bandages?"  
"Got in a fight."

"With who?"

He shrugged.

"I thought you were sexy before, but even with the bandages, it's a nice view."

Beelzemon rolled his eyes. He took a step back as the elder teenager quickly closed the space between them.

"So what are you reaaaaaaally doing with my sis? Hrm? Can't be that you _like_ her, is it? She's rather bland."

"She's my Tamer." he grunted in reply, trying to keep away from Yuri's probing fingers.

"Your what? Is that some kinda weird…oh, yeah. That's what that kid said he was to that dog thing. What is that, exactly?"

"Erm. I'm not sure, really. Just means we're partners."

"Oooh, so that means you're pretty free, right? Hehe."

He pointed a claw at her warningly. "Hands off, missy. Or you'll lose fingers."

She folded her hands swiftly, pouting profusely. "You're no fun!"

There was a few moments of silence between the pair as Yuri continued looking him over while he kept his gaze on one of the pictures on the wall.

Sudden, quick, heavy footsteps caused them to avert their attention.

Valeri's figure passed quickly by the opening, the slamming of a door soon followed.

Yuri shook her head. "Looks like they got into a fight. I'm just glad it wasn't me this time. Mom's got a bad temper," She pulled out a cellphone and gave its screen a once-over. "Oh well. Kyle wants to meet up with me, so I'll see you 'round." She giggled and disappeared from view.

Once she was gone, Beelzemon went to Valeri's door. "Valeri?"

There was no reply.

He waited for a few more moments before knocking lightly. "Hey, Valeri. It's just me."

Still no response.

He frowned and tried the doorknob to find it would not budge. "Locked. Humph…fine, I'll wait." He returned to the desk in the studio and sat down in the chair.

About an hour passed before Valeri ventured out of her room. She found the Viral asleep in the chair with his head against the knuckles of one hand.

"Sorry for making you wait outside." she said quietly to his sleeping form. She reached out and pushed on his shoulder.

His head snapped up. "What-what? Oh, Valeri! You doin' okay?"

"I'm fine. If you want to sleep, you can go to my bed."

"Nah, I just kinda dozed off," He got to his feet. "You really sure you're okay? Sure don't look it."

Valeri dropped her face towards the floor. "Yes, I'm fine."

Beelzemon stooped down, tilting her head up by her chin with the side of his index finger. "I may've not known you that long, but I can tell you're upset."

Valeri's face scrunched up slightly as tears welled in her eyes. Within moments the tears leaked down her cheeks.

The Viral put his arms about her shoulders to pull her into a comforting hug. He lightly pet on the back of her head when he felt her body start to convulse from sobbing.

After a short while her body became still, only a small amount of sniffling remained.

Valeri pulled away. "Sorry." she mumbled, wiping at the patch of liquid on his shoulder.

"It's fine. You feel a little better?"

She nodded slightly.

"Hey, why don't we go visit with Nan?"

Valeri nodded again.

"Okay, let's go." He straightened up, keeping one hand on her shoulder.


	13. Advice

Nan received the pair warmly into her home, chiding at Beelzemon for getting hurt and leaving her worried about his absence while she made them lunch.

"Yeah, sorry, Nan. I've not been feelin' up to going anywhere until today."

"I've just been worried. I was expecting you here a few days ago. I had figured you were just out and about. Teenagers are like that."

"You know I wouldn't just up and vanish. I even told you before when I was gonna leave for the Digital World."

Nan turned from the oven and patted his arm. "I know, dearie. Don't fret anymore. As long as I know you're all right."

"Thanks all to Valeri."

Valeri's entire face flushed and she fumbled her fingers against her cup.

The Viral grinned, unable to help himself. He looked up when Nan set a plate down in front of him, its content consisted of two hot ham and cheese sandwiches.

The elder woman set another plate down in front of Valeri, with only one sandwich, before settling herself in the middle chair. "There we are, dearies."

"Thank you." Valeri picked at the sandwich, pulling a piece of crust off to chew on it slowly.

Beelzemon was already munching away at his sandwich.

"So, Valeri. What's on your mind? And you can't say there isn't something. I've raised two children of my own, I know all actions, like you picking at your food."

Valeri blushed slightly with embarrassment. "I…I didn't come here to put my problems on you, Nan. It's just…some small things."

"Sometimes, it's best to tell someone. Silence can be a heavy burden to bear."

Valeri sighed and closed her eyes.

Nan watched her, waiting patiently for the teenager to compile herself, a soft smile to her features.

Once Valeri was ready, she opened her eyes. "My mother and I had a fight today. We don't fight often, I try to avoid it…it flares up some anxiety. She had gotten a call from the Principle saying how I had missed so much school."

"Because you were caring for my little bee?"

"I…yes. I was worried to stay away too long. That and…I just can't stand to be there anymore, it's just so stressful. Mom's solution is just to move."

"Move?!" Beelzemon coughed as he nearly choked on his food.

Nan gave him a quick whack to the back to help him. "So she thinks leaving would be more helpful. What do you think of the idea?"

"I…I don't really want to move. The city itself is nice. The kids are just so rude. They poke fun at me. I'm not a 'proper lady.'"

"Ah…children, preteens, and teenagers, as well as adults can be cruel. If they don't understand something or don't appreciate it, then it is more likely to be ridiculed. What is it that you think makes them say that? I understand the 'tom-boy' piece as of how you dress, is there anything else?"

"I um…"

"You can tell me." Nan said soothingly.

"I draw."

"You do?" Her face lit up slightly. "Oh, that's wonderful. My son draws as well. What do you draw?"

Valeri lowered her eyes shamefully. "Monsters…"

"Hm. What kind of monsters?"

"Fantasy creatures, things like Beelzemon and dragons."

"That sounds intriguing. My son mostly draws landscapes and still-life portraits. But I do now see why they would be so cruel."

"But why would they treat me like that little blotch of paint on a perfectly finished canvas?"

"Fantasy type things are not really welcomed here. Card games, shows, all are shunned to prevent children from being influenced by anything the parents would deem inappropriate."

"It's just ridiculous…I have emotions. I feel just like they do, so why act like I'm the monster?"

"What you create and how you act is just different than them, as they don't like nor understand it, the most prehistoric response is to attack."

"Of course Mom picked the worse place…maybe best for her casework but still."

"Casework? Is your mother a lawyer?"

"She is. She is a matrimonial lawyer. Mainly she helps with divorces."

"Hm. You would think as a lawyer, she would mediate more with you than simply yell at you."

"Unfortunately no. I think she is unknowingly taking her stress out on us, since we are her children."

Nan nodded as she listened. "That makes sense."

"I don't want to just up and move again. We grew up in our old house, moving the first time was stressful. It's the middle of the school year, too. Moving might mean learning new curriculum, like we had to here. And I just met you and Beelzemon."

The Viral spoke up. "As your Partner, I come with wherever you go, now. Wanted or not."

"But…Mom would never allow it. She's similar to the parents here, on that. She was just so worried I'd get hurt by Dorumon. She had seen them fight on the television once and she stated I was never to see Jered and Dorumon again."

"I come with, wanted or not." Beelzemon re-stated firmly.

Valeri dropped her head towards her cooling food.

Beelzemon reached a hand out across the table. As he was unable to reach her, he tapped his claws on the wood to get her attention.

She lifted her head slightly.

"Might not be as reassuring, but as long I live, you can guarantee I'll be around for you."

"But that's just because of this." She pulled the D-Arc out and set it on the table beside her plate.

Beelzemon frowned. "No it's not. As your Partner, I'm more required to be around, yes. But I choose to. You tended to me when I was injured and trusted me enough to let me in your home. I've come to consider you a friend."

Valeri upturned her hands to look at the small lines on her palms from the injuries she had sustained before. "I could say the same…"

Nan patted on the teenage girl's arm. "I know my little bee, he would never do anything he didn't want to. He has shown quite a remarkable amount of tenderness towards you. Used to, he would never go out of his way to help anyone."

Every ounce of white visible on the Viral's face changed to a pink hue. He quickly hid his face in his free arm, making a noise of distress.

Nan laughed and pet on the Viral's extended arm. "Still easy to embarrass, though. Now, Valeri, you need to eat."

The teenager nodded slightly and picked up her sandwich, taking a small bite out of it.

"Is there anything else on your mind?"

"What am I to do, Nan? Arguing with Mom is like dealing with a reinforced steel door. She only opens when she wants to. I don't really want to leave-"

"Is it that you don't want to leave, or is it just you want to avoid any further anxiety?"

Valeri's face scrunched up slightly as she thought. "That sounds about right, really."

"You mentioned earlier about only living in one place, and about school. But it really wasn't just all that. Going to a new place is rather scary. More-so when you come to a small place like here, where everyone knows everyone, except the newer folks. I have personally seen many of the children grow up and have their own children. Many marry from within the town. Perhaps it really _would_ be best if your family were to move, say to a bigger place? It seems a little backwards, but the lack of bonds from a small community would help you fit in better."

"I hated moving the first time, to pack up, move to a strange home, around people I didn't even know. But it was best, to get away from there, from Dad…" Her voice trailed off abruptly and her body shivered, as if it had been hit by a cold blast. "Maybe you're right, Nan…none of the kids here accept me. The one I thought who would turned out to be a liar. He was new, too. But he wanted to fit in with the rest of them, so he set me up."

"So that's what happened." Beelzemon said quietly, a frown furrowing his face.

Nan looked sorrowful. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. That's a very cruel thing to do."

"He would sit with me at lunch, when I normally sat alone, and talk about my art. He insisted he wanted to see me draw, and I would. I was just so happy he wasn't teasing me or trying to take away my sketchbook that I didn't realize what was happening. I…were friends for a month. As a kind of…celebration type thing, I made something for him. As a way of thanking him for being there," The longer she talked, the more upset she was becoming, her voice had started to catch in several places and tears were gathering in her eyes. "So I made a picture, just a little one, it was my dragon persona and a rendition of him as what he said his favorite animal was, just having a picnic, kind of like how we had lunch at school. I went to give it to him one day. I had even dressed up some, he mentioned once he had wondered how I'd look in a blouse rather than a t-shirt. Me in a blouse, how silly…" She laughed slightly to herself, seeming to take it as a joke. Then her expression turned completely sullen. "Though he received the change of clothing well, when I presented him with my gift, he seemed appalled. Just…the look of utter resentment on his face…my heart broke. He didn't really talk at first, just ignored the picture when I held it out to him. Then finally…" She looked down at her hands. "He told me I was stupid and naïve, and rather surprised I hadn't caught on by now. He was just putting up with me because it was a way to get in with the other kids, he was to pretend to be my friend and find a way to humiliate me. His way of doing it was to make a scene out of me offering the picture to him, laughing at me and calling me names, snatching up the drawing and deliberately taking his time to tear it apart, little by little just to watch me writhe. Thinking about it, it was obvious. He always had an excuse when I asked to hang out somewhere, and the one time I offered to show him my studio he had a strange look of disgust to his face, for just a brief moment. When he had me draw something, it wasn't really creatures, it was more like…attempts at mechanical things, robots, weapons. I looked up many tutorials until I could finally draw this robot he kept asking me to do. I even said he could call me 'Val' since all my family and friends do, but he never did."

Nan and Beelzemon had been listening quietly, each with their own thoughts and growing emotions.

"The hell does he think he is, playing you like that?!" the Viral demanded after Valeri finished. "He hurt you!"

"Dagger hurt me, too. He came by after Ricardio had left with a group of kids who were praising him for making me break down in the lunch room. He came on to me, said he'd help get back at Ricardio if I went on a date with him. When I refused, he hit me."

"I'm gonna beat the ever living crap outta those kids if I see 'em again."

"Calm down, my little bee. Violence isn't going to solve anything."

"It'll sure keep 'em from harming Val if I break their bones."

"And you'll get into a lot of trouble for hurting humans. Let alone teenagers."

"But they hurt Val! How can I stand by for that?!"

"It isn't right they harmed her, but the best thing you can do is keep them from doing it again if they're around, but without violence. A scare tactic could be used, you're quite big and scary all your own."

Beelzemon grumbled his disapproval but did not say anything else.

Valeri was sitting with a small smile on her face, despite the tears streaming down her cheeks.

The Viral looked at her in confusion. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, sniffling. "Yes…thank you, that meant so much."

Beelzemon got up from his chair and went around the table so he was beside Valeri. He knelt down until they were level with one another and put his arms around her shoulders, pressing the forehead of his helmet against the side of her head. "I really mean it."

"Aw. My little bee is such a sweetie."

Beelzemon's body slumped and he rolled his eyes. "Naaaaan…"

Valeri giggled quietly and patted his arm.

Nan got up from her seat and went to the back side of Valeri's chair, putting her arms around the pair. "All right, my little bees, who wants to go and check on our cuttings?"

Beelzemon's head shot up. "Me!"

Valeri nodded. "That sounds nice."

Nan straightened up, smiling. "Wonderful."


	14. Last Straw

Beelzemon was curled up in the corner of Valeri's bed the next afternoon. He had overexerted himself helping move pots around in the nursery.

Valeri sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, giving her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, fine."

"You overdid it, didn't you?"

"I um. Might've."

"You should rest, then."

"Do you…do you think you could massage on my shoulders?" His tone was hopeful yet uncertain.

A deep blush appeared on the teenager's face. "I um. I don't know..."

"I'd really, _really_ appreciate it."  
"Oh," she sighed. "All right. You'll have to lay down, though, you're too tall."

He slowly moved to stretch himself out on his stomach, wincing slightly from the soreness in his limbs. He pulled a pillow down to rest his chin on it, folding his arms underneath.

Valeri re-settled herself next to him. It took her several moments to pluck up the confidence to touch his shoulder. The skin felt cool, the muscles beneath knotted. She was not exactly experienced in the ways of a masseuse, though she utilized some exercises on her own hands after extensive drawing sessions.

Beelzemon felt like his insides were turning to jelly as she started kneading on the shoulder furthest from her. He let out a content sigh and closed his eyes.

Valeri slowly worked on one shoulder at a time, alternating between kneading and rubbing in circles with her fingertips. By the time she reached the other shoulder, her hands were cramping up. "Ouch…" She rubbed her hands for a few moments.

"Hm…?" The Viral cracked a wine-red eye, looking up at her. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, it's nothing." she said, kneading quickly on the other shoulder.

The Viral purred and closed his eye again. "Don't over-do it, yourself."

"I won't."

"Remind me to return the favor, sometime." he mumbled sleepily.

Valeri's face flushed darkly. "O-okay."

While the Viral slept, she continued massaging his shoulders at a slower pace, moving down to his shoulder-blades. She could not stop herself from admiring his back after feeling the relaxed muscles beneath her fingertips. _I'm not even that interested in guys with so much muscle, let alone I shouldn't feel any attraction to my own Partner. It wasn't that long ago he wasn't, and I felt just a twinge of…something. He was so heated earlier. It was relieving, knowing he cares so much, and was so persistent that he would stay with me. I'm being silly, though. He's my friend. And now being my Partner, he feels more obligated to. It would be weird to love a human, I guess…_ She sighed wistfully, letting her hands rest, fingers splayed out across his shoulder-blades. _I wonder what he really meant by returning the favor. Mmm. A massage from someone else would be nice on my hands._ She flexed her fingers slightly and looked up at the Viral when he flinched. "Sorry."

Valeri carefully and slowly pushed herself up from the bed. She went out to her studio and sat at her desk. Something in the back of her mind was nagging at her to draw.

She pulled out one of her notebooks from her drawer and a pencil from its container and set to work, dragging the lead across the page.

Beelzemon was brought from his slumber by a sharp female voice.

"What is this?!"

"Ohhh…not her." he grumbled when he recognized the voice as belonging to Valeri's mother. He yelped as the woman landed a hard slap to his back with her briefcase.

"Get up!"

"What's your problem, lady?! Jeez!"

"It's not lady! It's Ms. Shinshiju to you, mister. You're in _my_ daughter's room, her bed! Get out!"

Beelzemon scrambled to dodge another blow, hopping out of the bed. "Chill out! No reason to hit me."

"I've plenty of reason! You're trespassing, you went against my first warning. I should call the cops on you right now."

"Psh. Do you see what I am? Do you even know?" He motioned up and down on himself. "I'm not human, you think the cops are a bother to me?"

"Then I'll…I…hm. Why are you bandaged?"

Beelzemon folded his arms loosely across his chest. "Got in a fight. And you listen here. You may be her mom, but she's my Partner now, so I'm gonna be wherever she is, like it or not."

"She…your…she what?!"

"It's like being bonded. Not like your human rituals or anythin' so don't look so upset."

"I…what, I don't even…"

Valeri hurried into the room. "M-Mom, what are you doing in my room?"

Ms. Shinshiju turned on her daughter. "Me? What is this thing doing in your room?! He says you're bonded, what does that even mean? Are you dating or something without my permission?"

Valeri flushed darkly. "Wh-what? No! And why do I need your permission to date someone?! You let Yuri run around with whoever she wants to."

"No, she runs around and I can't stop her."

"You don't even try. You're hardly ever home. You didn't even realize he's been here almost a week."

"So he's the real reason you've been missing school," Her mother's tone dropped as she assessed the new information. "You're grounded for two weeks. No drawing, no going out. You're going to school, you're staying all day, and I'm going to have Yuri help keep watch to make sure _he_ doesn't come back," She pointed at Beelzemon. "And he's leaving."

Valeri's mouth opened in shock. "Th-that…you can't!" she managed to stammer. Her voice was cracking and tears glittered in her darkened eyes.

"I can, and I did. Now stay in here while I escort your guest out."

Valeri dropped her head. Her entire body shook with suppressed rage. She knew it was pointless to argue with her mother, the woman was attuned to arguing in court, so she was not easily persuaded.

Beelzemon planted his fists on his hips. "I ain't going anywhere."

"You _will_ leave my house." the darker blonde woman growled.

The Viral matched Ms. Shinshiju's glare and tone of voice. "No."

Ms. Shinshiju, despite her ability to hide her emotions on her face, seemed clearly disturbed that she could not remove the Viral by words alone. She took in a few deep breaths to recollect herself. "This property is mine, and you will leave. Even without being human, I am sure you understand the concept of trespassing, and you are."

"Val let me in, so no, I'm not."

" _I_ did not let you in, so yes, you are. Now, please leave."

Beelzemon snorted in annoyance. "Fine."

Valeri's mother's body relaxed only briefly before stiffening again. "Good. I will show you out."

Beelzemon walked in front of Ms. Shinshiju, his body hunched slightly, contemplating his next course of action. Just because she told him to leave, did not mean he was going to stay away long.

Once outside, he started walking down the sidewalk with Ms. Shinshiju's bright eyes glaring him down from the porch. His keen hearing picked up the woman's voice, though it was not addressing him.

"Yes, I'm coming. I'll be there in about ten minutes."

The Viral allowed himself a smirk and continued walking until he was out of sight of the house. After making double sure she was not able to see him, he ducked behind one of the other homes and scaled one of the nearby trees. He followed the trees back to Valeri's home and settled himself down to wait.

It was not long before he spied a sleek beige car pull out of the garage and into the street.

As soon as it disappeared out of view, he hopped down and hurried to the door. Testing the doorknob found it to be locked. "Figures."

He was startled to see a figure appear.

The door pulled inwards to reveal Yuri, smiling slyly. "And what are you doing?"

"Eh? I was gonna check on Val."

"Mom said not to let you in. If you try bullying me into it, I'll just have to tell on you."

Beelzemon rolled his eyes. "Oh, c'mon, Yuri, lemme in!"

"Weeeeellll…I could. If I had proper persuasion…" Her smile grew larger.

"Ugh…" He sighed heavily. "Okay, if I let you touch me, will you let me in?"

Yuri squealed happily like a child getting a present, bobbing up and down on her toes.

The Viral made a wry face and covered his ears at the noise. "Gahhh. Shut it, will ya?!"

"Hehe, sorry." She took a step forward, her hands held level to the top of his abdomen.

"Just don't touch the bandages, okay?"

She nodded fervently and gently placed her palms on an open space. "Oh, wow," she whispered. "You _really_ are buff."

"What, you think it just looked like it?"

"Well, I've seen the football team, who look really buff, but when you feel them, they are still a little squishy, but you're super solid."

Beelzemon nodded. "Yep. All muscle," His fingers twitched when her hands moved, attempting to feel on any place that did not have a bandage. "Oookay…you gonna let me in now?"

"One second." She seemed completely distracted.

The Viral rolled his red-wine eyes in annoyance. "C'mon, Val's upset."

"Ffffiiiiine." She huffed sulkily and moved to let him inside.

Beelzemon rushed passed her and down the stairs to Valeri's door.

He opened the door to find her in the same position she had been left in. He placed his hands on either shoulder and gave them a gentle squeeze.

Valeri whipped around suddenly and buried her face in his chest, sobbing loudly.

The Viral waited patiently until his Tamer's sobs subsided. "You doin' okay?"

The teenager threw her arms around his middle, squeezing tightly.

Beelzemon wheezed from the sudden action. "V-Val, too tight!"

"Sorry, sorry…" She loosened her grip. "You came back."

"'Course I did. I told ya I'd be here for you."

"Thank you, thank you…" She pressed her forehead against his chest.

"You gonna be okay, now?"

She shook her head. "No, I hate this, I hate it here. Can't we go somewhere else?"

"We could go back to Nan's-"

"Let's go to the Digital World." Valeri cut in.

"Wh-wha? Why?"

"No one can find us there."

"But Val, it's dangerous there."

"I know, I've been before."

"You really wanna go?"

"I do. I miss some of the places there."

"All right. We'll go. Just promise me you won't try running off or anything, okay?"

She nodded. "I won't. Just let me get some things." She slipped past him and into her studio.

Beelzemon followed a short distance before stopping. He watched as she pulled out a bag and went to several different places around the room, throwing in a variety of items.

When she was finished, she slipped the strap diagonally to the other shoulder and turned to him. "Okay, all done."

"Uhm. You gonna get things _other_ than art stuff?"

"Hm? Oh! Yes, I need to grab your ointments." She hurried into her room.

"I meant clothes and stuff. Depending how long you wanna stay."

Her voice drifted out from the bedroom. "Guess I should get a few things."

"Might be a good idea."

A short while later, Valeri had her belongings packed up and the pair were headed towards the outskirts of town.

"Any idea where you were, when you last visited?"

"Uhm. Not exactly. The best I remember was a town of metal and fire type things."

"Mm. Sounds like the Industrial District. That's quite a ways from where this portal comes out."

Valeri sighed quietly.

"You thinkin' you would look for Dorumon?"

The ash-blonde's face darkened slightly. "Wh-no. I just…"

"Hey, it's okay to say you miss your friends. If you really want, we could check around. No guarantees he'd be there, though."

Valeri's deep grey eyes lit up. "You'd really do that?!"

"I'd do anythin' for ya, Val." It slipped from his mouth before he realized. A deep blush warmed his face and he turned away from her to look up at the sky. _Yeesh, that didn't sound weird or anything…_

"That means a lot to me, Beelzemon. I know Jered meant well when he was my friend. But I think his drive to win me over made him lose sight that I just needed someone there for me. It pushed me further away."

"I'm sure he didn't really mean it, ya know?"

"I know he didn't. It just made things so uncomfortable and me so lost. Dorumon was really the only one of the pair to understand, and he tried to talk to Jered, but he wouldn't listen."

"Humans are weird like that."

Valeri looked around as the city limits neared. She could see the skeletons of buildings being put up. "So where are we going, exactly?"

"There's a Digi-Portal outside the city. We're headed there."

"Ah. Okay."

The portal turned out to be hidden in a field half a mile outside of town.

"Not sure how much longer this thing will really be here. With how those workers are goin', they may as well destroy this one with all that building."

"Is there not anymore nearby?"

Beelzemon shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. Didn't search hard, though. Just happened upon this one, one day while I was out. Okay. I suppose you know the drill, you wanna come out at the same place as me, better hang on." He wrapped an arm about her waist.

She nodded and moved with him as he went forward.

The light engulfed the pair.


	15. The Tamers

Valeri was sitting cross-legged, drawing busily in her sketchpad.

A yellow caterpillar-type insect Digimon sporting black lightning patterns up the side of its body and where its eyes would be located was busy nibbling on the leaves of a bush with its blue beak.

"You do realize that little guy can electrocute you, right?" Beelzemon asked in a low voice, so as to not startle the Kunemon.

Valeri nodded, not looking up from her drawing.

The Mega Viral shook his head, a small smile to his features at her apparent lack of fear. He unconsciously placed a hand on the hilt of the gun on his boot. He knew that even though the Digimon before them was but a child in Digital terms, it was still dangerous to humans.

"So what _are_ you afraid of? You're not scared of me, nor the Kunemon."

"I'm afraid of a lot of things. I am leery of the creatures here, don't mistake me for being courageous. I just know, with you here, I'm safer."

"I can't protect you from everything, Val, I hope you understand that."

"I do. I know this creature here is a Rookie. I've learned a little how to use the D-Arc, and I was around Jered for awhile. He taught me about some of the Digimon in that area we were in."

"Mm…well, I suppose that's good. Just try keeping close to me. I'm still not in tip-top shape, but I will do my best if something happens."

Valeri looked up thoughtfully. "Oh, speaking of that. Your bandages need changed in a little bit, oh…what's the matter little guy?" She had noted the Kunemon sit up abruptly.

"Senses danger, most likely."

"Do you sense anything?"

The Mega Viral strained his senses, picking up several presences. "There's six coming this way. Not sure if they're human, Digimon, or both."

"Should we pick up and move now?"

"I'd think that's best."

"Okay." She quickly gathered up the copic markers she had been using and shut her sketchpad before standing.

Beelzemon carefully gathered her up in his arms and took off at a quick pace back towards their campsite, passing by the bush.

The Kunemon hissed as the Mega Viral neared.

"Shove off, pipsqueak." he growled at it.

It squeaked and scurried off.

Beelzemon picked up the pace. _We should at least get back and get all her stuff._

They arrived at the small fireside after a few minutes.

After setting Valeri down, Beelzemon took a quick look around while she gathered the rest of her belongings into her bag. "Tamers." he muttered when his keen eyesight picked the figures out in the distance.

"What?"

"Tamers."

"Oh! Then we should be fine here, right?"

"Eh…yeah, they won't be a bother, fight-wise. I think some of them might be from town. Not sure I remember rightly how many there were. At least two."

Valeri set her bag back on the ground and pulled out some of the contents. "Okay, then I'm just going to find something else to draw."

"It's gonna be dark really soon, I'd wait 'til tomorrow."

"Is it? It looks bright out now."

"Dark isn't like in the Real World, it's instantaneous."

Valeri pulled out a roll of bandages and a bottle of ointment. "Okay, well let's get your wounds redone before it gets dark."

"M'kay." He sunk down to his knees, resting his knuckles on the grass and closed his eyes.

Valeri set about unravelling the bandages wrapped about his torso

"How they look?" He cracked an eye open to see her staring, a deep blush to her face. "You okay?"

She snapped out of her daze. "Y-yes. They look almost all healed up. I um. I don't figure you actually need bandages."

"Think so? I'm leavin' that up to you."

"Well…if I don't, then the ointment won't stay. So just once more, I think."

"Sounds good." He closed his eye again.

Valeri moved to kneel behind him. "How long do you think it will take to get to the…um, District?" she asked as she started applying dollops of ointment to the wounds on his back.

"Not really sure. A few days."

"Mm. So it would just be a few hours my time, right? If I remember correctly."

"Yeah, I suppose so. I was gone for…a couple years here, so it still showed up in the Real World."

"You really came here to get stronger, but why?"

"Just for that, to be stronger. A Digimon's life revolves around growing stronger, becoming better…not all feel that way but a lot do, mostly the more 'wild' ones, without a real home and community. Keeps us from being deleted and used as fuel for others."

Valeri let out a sigh, moving again to sit near the front right side of the Viral, setting the bottle in her lap. "It's all just crazy. I remember the battling, when I was around Jered and Dorumon. They fought off any of the Digimon who came to the Real World and sometimes we went into the Digital World and they protected the towns nearby. I hated the fighting. But most of all, I hated being useless, watching Dorumon get hurt over and over again. I know he had Jered as his Tamer, but it didn't make me feel any less upset."

"Sounds like you really care about Dorumon."

"I…I do. He's a good friend. He loved watching me draw, and letting me use him as a model. And we would talk a lot, about different things."

Beelzemon nodded slightly. _I should probably stop bringing that up, she seemed really attached to him. I'm really wondering how much she cared about him, with how she talks. That'd be weird, a human in love with a Digimon…_ A sudden, deep blush flared across his pale face.

Valeri looked him over concernedly. "Are you all right? You're not getting ill, are you? Injuries like you had make you more susceptible."

He waved away her hand as she made to place her knuckles against his cheek. "I'm fine, I'm fine…Digimon don't get the same illnesses humans do, anyway."

"Hm…if you say so."

"You gonna finish up soon or no? My legs are cramping up."

"Oh! Sorry, sorry. You want to get up and move around for a minute before?"

"Yeah."

Valeri sat back as the Viral got to his feet.

"Ah…much better. Oh, great." He heaved a long sigh, thrusting his thumbs in the belt about his waist.

"What?" She turned to where he was looking.

Three humans and their Digimon partners were nearing. There was one female human amongst the group, with her was a Byomon.

Beelzemon unconsciously placed a hand on one of the lacerations across his chest, his jaw setting firmly. _Of course, it's her and her bag of feathers._

One of the males, dressed in a t-shirt and khaki shorts held a hand up in greeting, his free hand held his Partner, a squat looking Digimon with deep green skin, a large orange dorsal fin, who waved a leg with a fierce looking talon at the end.

The other male had a paler complexion than his companions, rivaled only by the white waxiness of his Partner, a candle-stick-looking Digimon, and light blond hair, dressed in a button-up shirt and khakis.

Valeri got to her feet to stand next to Beelzemon. "They seem nice enough."

Beelzemon snorted hard through his nose. "Maybe the guys are, but that gal is evil."

"A Tamer being evil?"

"She had her bag of feathers do this to me." His voice carried venom and his claws drug across the laceration, leaving small red lines.

"Beelzemon!" She snatched at his hand, pulling it away from his wounds. "Stop that, you're going to tear them open."

"Will you patch them the rest of the way up, now?"

"I can, yes."

The Viral settled himself down again in the grass and waited patiently while Valeri dabbed at his torso wounds. He closed his eyes and attempted to focus all his senses on what she was doing instead of the roiling thoughts pertaining to the upcoming meeting with the Tamers.

"Hello!" a warm male voice called out.

Beelzemon grumbled under his breath. He flinched when he felt Valeri pat his chest reassuringly.

"It'll be all right. Hold this end for me." She placed the end piece of the roll into his hand.

Already accustomed to the procedure, the Viral placed the end at the top of his ribcage.

Valeri had managed to wrap a small portion of his chest up before the Tamers arrived. She tied off the portion she had finished and turned her attention to the newcomers.

Beelzemon got to his feet, planting a fist on his hip.

The little group halted.

The female imitated the gesture the Viral had done. "You again."

"Serena…" the Biyomon started in a pleading voice.

Serena smirked.

Beelzemon's glare bore through the teenager before him.

"Uhm…" The darker haired male stepped forward, extending his hand towards Valeri. "Hi. I don't think we've seen you before. My name is Michael."

The ash-blonde smiled tentatively, disregarding the offered hand. "Hi…we're a little new to this area."

Michael quickly hid his hand behind his back after seeing she was not going to shake it. "Oh, really? Are you a Tamer?"

Valeri pulled out her D-Arc and held it up.

"Ah! So this must be your Partner…?"

"Yes." the Viral turned his gaze to Michael.

Michael ducked down slightly. "Cool."

"Hello!" the green-skinned Digimon chirped.

"Oh, hello!" Valeri cooed, getting to her feet. She moved closer, bending down so she was more level with the Digimon.

"I'm Betamon, who are you?"

"My name is Valeri."

The candle-looking one hopped forward, raising a hand in greeting. Being so close now, it revealed the flame on its head actually bore a secondary face, the eyes blue instead of red as on the waxy portion. "I'm Candlemon!" The Digimon bore a slight German accent.

Valeri dropped down to her knees after she moved to stand in front of it. "It's nice to meet you."

Beelzemon could not suppress a small smile of amusement at his Tamer's sudden interest in the two Digimon. _Can definitely tell she likes critters more than people._

The lighter-haired male knelt down beside his Partner and held out his hand. "Guten Abend, my name is Nicoli." His voice held a deeper German accent than his Partner's.

Valeri stared at him for a few moments before lightly slipping her hand in his.

He gave it a firm hand-shake before releasing her hand and getting to his feet. He moved to stand in front of the Viral, extending his hand.

Beelzemon looked down at him curiously.

"Guten Abend."

"Yeah, hi." He gave the offered hand a firm shake.

Nicoli stepped back to his original position.

Michael gestured towards Serena. "And this is-"

"I know who that is." Beelzemon growled, cutting Michael off.

"Er…"

"Beelzemon, please don't be so hostile."

"I have every right to."

Valeri shot him a glare over her shoulder.

He blinked in surprise. "Okay, okay.

Michael set Betamon down.

The amphibian type waddled his way over to Valeri. "So, what brings you all here?"

"Just visiting."

"Yeah, not stayin' in this spot long."

"Interesting. Um, not to seem intrusive, but do you mind if we camped near here? It's about to get dark."

"Sure."

"Val-!"

She shot him another glare and he huffed and turned away. She smiled warmly up at Michael. "It's perfectly fine."

"Thank you, very much."


	16. Unaccepted Apology

Later in the night, the group was settled near the fire.

Betamon was sitting in front of Valeri sleeping while she was drawing in her sketchbook.

Michael was holding his flashlight so she could see better.

Beelzemon was situated near his Tamer.

Nicoli and Candlemon were sitting across from the fire. The candle Digmon's head flame gave off an eerie secondary glow.

Serena and Biyomon were further out, the teenage female had her back to them.

"So…Valeri?"

"Hm?"

"Where are you headed to?"

"Um…not really sure yet, just wanted to look around."

"Ah. So where are you from? Your accent sounds American."

"So does yours."

"That's true. Uhm. So what all do you draw?"

"Things."

"Oh…" He looked away, fiddling with his hands.

After a short time of silence, he looked back to her and spoke again: "So, um. I'm from Missouri and so is Serena. And Nicoli's from…Munich. All the way from Germany. That's why I wondered where you were from."

Valeri nodded slightly in acknowledgement.

"That looks so much like Betamon."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Do you have Art classes?"

"I have one, yes. I've learned a few things from it, others it's just re-learning."

"Do you want to be an artist?"

"Well. There's different mediums of art. Illustration, architecture, game design, hyperrealism, comics, tattoos. The list goes on."

Beelzemon leaned in close to Valeri. "Val. He wants to know what you wanna go in for, not what kinds there are."

"I have to explain what kinds there are in order to say what I want to go in for."

"Well, you have, so what you wanna go for?"

"I…I'm not entirely sure. I've done a variety of medias, but not really big. I'm not good with backgrounds…some kids at my other school had me make them tattoos."

"Could I see some of your work?"

Valeri leaned over her sketchbook defensively.

Michael's face fell and he sat back.

"It's okay, Michael." Betamon said reassuringly

"So where are you lot headed?"

"Us? Well, we were headed back to mine and Serena's town in a couple days. Nicoli is joining us."

"Oh, yes…run of the town, eh…?"

"Yeah, Serena had spoken of a Digimon she felt needed dealt with."

Beelzemon's face showed his anger. "Oh yes, she meant me."

"She what?"

"Did you not see these?" He gestured to his unbandage wounds.

"I…I did, but I wasn't going to ask. But why would she have us deal with you? You're Partnered."

Biyomon spoke up. "He wasn't when I fought him."

Nicoli raised an eyebrow. "He wasn't?"

Valeri shook her head.

"I lived there, long before any of you. You tried chasin' me out, and failed. She tried killing me and failed. You lot are sucky Tamers, trying to remove Digimon from their homes."

"Rules are rules!" Serena snapped over her shoulder.

"Your rules are made up pieces of junk! Made by a bunch'a kids!"

"They're made to protect the town!"

Valeri got to her feet as the two continued to argue back and forth, and hurried out into the darkness.

"V-Valeri, wait!" Michael got to his feet and hurried after her; Betamon and Candlemon hurried after.

Nicoli stayed behind to try to calm the heated debate.

Valeri ducked behind a tree and sat down at the base. She looked away when Michael kneeled down.

"Valeri, you shouldn't be out in the dark alone."

"I like being in the dark…"

Betamon placed a talon lightly on her shoe. "Valeri, it's dangerous."

"I'm fine…"

"The fighting is scary, isn't it?" Candlemon asked quietly.

The ash-blonde nodded slowly.

"Don't worry, Nicoli will calm them down, he's a good at that."

"We'll stay with you 'til it's over." Betamon said solemnly.

"Thank you." she said softly, giving the aquatic Rookie a pat on the head.

"Is your Partner always that…um…quick to anger?"

"You saw his wounds…that's after a week of healing. He…he…" She halted, her voice cracking. "He almost died."

"Really?"

She nodded and dabbed at her eyes.

"I can see why you two were Partnered. You have a deep connection with him." Candlemon said, both its faces smiling widely.

"Do…do you really think so?"

"Yes! The Sovereign Partner humans and Digimon with deep connections."

"But why…why would they choose when he was near death?"

"It's when feelings come out strongest."

"He said that girl's Digimon attacked him. Tried to drive him out of town."

Michael sighed. "Yeah. She's really big on rules. A rule we had made was to make sure no wild Digimon stay in town to have a chance to scare or harass its inhabitants, especially since many don't even know Digimon exist."

"But if you do that, when Digimon do come, they're twice as scared. What if the Digimon aren't being mean? What if they need help, maybe got lost?"

"That doesn't happen as often."

She dropped her eyes. "It does sometimes."

"When it does, we try to take them back home."

"Uh-huh…"

"Well…'we' means Betamon and myself. Serena…kind of does her own thing. She takes the rule a little too seriously. Please, accept my most humble apology on behalf of Serena."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Beelzemon."

"Erm…he's a bit scary."

"He's the one who was injured."

Michael rubbed on the back of his neck. "Okay. I will."

The group jumped violently and Michael let out a squeak when they heard a gravelly voice close-by.

"Val."

A pair of red-tinted eyes glittered in the darkness, at a higher level than the group.

Candlemon hopped closer, revealing and illuminating the ghostly whiteness of the Mega Viral's skin and bandages.

"Erm. Beelzemon, was it?"

The Viral frowned. "What do you want?"

"Uh…uhm…just to…a-apologize. For what happened to you. Serena is a very serious type of person."

"You and your slimeball were with that girl, chasin' me before. I will not accept any apologies from the likes of you." His voice was full of venom as he spoke.

Michael bit his lip and lowered his face. He got to his feet and made his way back to the campfire.

Candlemon and Betamon sat with Valeri a short while longer before returning to their respective Tamers.

With their departure, the pair were left in darkness.

"We shouldn't stay here." Beelzemon murmured, still seething from the earlier debate.

"Why didn't you accept his apology? He was at least trying to make amends."

"You seriously believe I should? You don't get it. They chased me out of my home before. You know the rest."

"But he didn't hurt you."

"Drop it, Val. You don't get it, and you won't," He spoke again after a few moments. "You fine leavin' all your belongings by them?"

"Mhm…" Her voice clearly conveyed how upset she was by the lack of emotion.

"M'kay." He decided it was best to not push further, or attempt an apology for snapping at her.


	17. Journey

The next morning found the group up and gathering their belongings to leave.  
Beelzemon was standing by the tree they had slept against after Valeri finished bandaging the remainder of his wounds.  
"So are you all still going to town?"  
"Well. We were mainly going for…" Michael halted, casting Beelzemon a wary side-ways glance. "We figured we would see where you guys were headed, maybe we could escort you."  
Valeri smiled softly. "Yes, that would be lovely. We were on our way to a district. One with fire and metal. I can never remember what it's called."  
"Might you be referring to the Industrial District?"  
"Yes, I think that's it."  
"That's pretty far from here. B-but it's no problem!" he added quickly, seeing how Valeri's face dropped.  
Serena rolled her eyes. "You're just wanting to do this as an apology."  
"He should," Nicoli said coolly. "He's doing it as the leader of the group, and taking responsibility for your actions, though you should do it, instead."  
The black-haired female scoffed and turned away.  
Biyomon put the tips of her wings to the bottom of her beak. "Serena is awfully sorry, really. We just wanted to chase him away, but he was so strong."  
"Shut up." Serena snapped, flicking her Partner's beak.  
The pink-feathered bird-like Digimon made a small unhappy noise.  
"There's no reason to be mean to Biyomon, Serena. She's just trying to be helpful."  
Valeri bit her lip. She could feel the tension rising from the other female teenager. In an attempt to quell any upcoming arguments, she spoke: "So! Are there any good places to eat?"  
"There's quite a few the way we came from."  
"Do you think we could stop at one and get some food? I…I didn't think to bring anything with us."  
"Most certainly. We have some foodstuffs with us but there's not much in the way of sharing."  
"Great."  
Nicoli nodded his agreement. "Mhm. There's a terminal a few miles back. It holds several types of businesses and a Trailmon station so we could get utilize it after we are finished with our meal."  
Michael's face lit up. "Oh! That's a great idea, Nicoli. I had totally forgotten about the Trailmon station."  
Nicoli raised an eyebrow at the darker-haired male. "Did you really?"  
"Yeaaaaah…I just like walking around. I don't use the stations often."  
"Makes sense."  
The group started on their way after all their belongings had been gathered and the campfire was disposed of.

Inside the restaurant, the small group, without Serena and Biyomon, sat themselves at one of the booths next to the windows.  
Nicoli sat beside Michael, who was situated across from Valeri. Betamon settled himself on the table while Candlemon was in the booth beside Valeri.  
Beelzemon sat in the one behind them, due to the lack of room.  
"Oh, Valeri. I was just thinking…"  
"Hm…?  
"You don't have a deck, do you? Biyomon said before that Beelzemon wasn't your Partner prior to their fight."  
She shook her head. "No. I don't. I never had a need for them." She watched curiously as Michael rummaged through his pack.  
After a few minutes, he procured a small stack of cards. He laid them on the table. "Here, you can have these. They're just spares I had."  
"Oh…are you sure?"  
"Absolutely!"  
Nicoli pulled several from his own pocket and added them to the pile. "Here's a few extra."  
"Th-thank you guys…" She hesitantly picked up the deck of cards and slowly started flipping through them.  
"We can show you later how to use them."  
"I had a friend before, who was a Tamer. But I never payed attention to what he did when they were fighting."  
"Another Tamer? What's his name?"  
"Jered."  
Nicoli and Michael exchanged puzzled looks.  
"We've never heard of that name."  
"He helps out at the Industrial District. His Partner is a Dorumon."  
"Oh! Yes, I remember hearing about that pair before, then. A Dorumon is a rather rare Digimon."  
Valeri's voice was hopeful. "Have you, really?! Dorumon…I-I mean…Jered and Dorumon are who I wanted to go and see there."  
"Well, there's no guarantee they'll be there. But we can go check."  
"Yes, thank you. That's all I'd like, really. I've not seen them in months, nor have I heard from them. I've just been rather worried."  
A plant Digimon with a head similar to a sunflower bearing an upside down triangle with the body of a lizard; a pair of arms and legs, thorny tail and leaf-shaped wings walked up to the table.  
"Hello Michael and Nicoli!" it said in a cheery voice, its smile showing off a snaggletooth. "I thought you were all here just the other day?"  
"Hi Sunflowmon. We were, yes."  
"It's simply lovely to see you all here again. Where is Serena?"  
"She's off somewhere."  
"I will make sure to get her order with the rest of yours. Oh!" Its black eyes widened as they fell upon Valeri. "Who might this be?"  
"This is our new friend, Valeri. She's a Tamer as well. Her Partner is behind us."  
Sunflowmon peered around the booth to look at the Mega Viral. Its body shuddered, wings shaking in unison, as it turned its attention back to Michael. "Oh, my. So um, are you all ready to order?"  
Valeri looked down at her hands.  
"Ah, we are."  
Beelzemon turned around, folding his arms on the top of the booth. "Hard to order if we don't have menus."  
Sunflowmon put a hand to its face. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. You were supposed to get some, it might have been because Michael and Nicoli and Serena are so well known around here they didn't bother."  
"Talk 'bout poor service." the Viral grumbled.  
"We have a more simplistic range of food-items. Pancakes, waffles, eggs however you like them. Meats range from bacon to sausage. Um. Jams to go with biscuits…" its voice trailed off as it fumbled its fingers together trying to remember the rest of the menu. "I-I'm so sorry, I've forgotten."  
"Schon gut, Sunflowmon." Nicoli said soothingly.  
Michael gave the flustered sunflower Digimon a reassuring smile.  
Sunflowmon smiled bashfully back and ducked its head. "Sorry, sorry. This morning has been just so busy. I just keep forgetting things."  
"You know what we like, so there's no worry on that end." Candlemon said, nodding as he spoke.  
Sunflowmon bobbed up and down. "Yes, I do! I remember well!" it said happily. It turned to Valeri. "Then what would you like, Miss?"  
"Pancakes and apple juice."  
"Just pancakes? Would you care for syrup or butter?"  
"Both, please."  
It nodded. "Okay! What about you…?" Its voice trailed off as it turned its head towards Beelzemon.  
"Waffles and over-easy eggs. And water."  
"Okay! Now…off to find Serena and Biyomon. I'll have your drinks out in just a short bit!" It hurried off.  
Valeri pulled up her bag. She put away the deck of cards and took out her sketchpad and pack of copics.  
The small group watched the ash-blonde as she set them on the tabletop and sorted out her markers.  
"What'cha gonna draw now?"  
"I'm not sure yet."  
"I…I really hate asking again. But…is there some way I could look at your other work?"  
Valeri scrunched her face up. "I…" She looked down at her sketchpad. After a few moments of careful consideration, she pushed it towards Michael.  
The darker haired male blinked in surprise. "Y-yo…may I?"  
She gave a slight nod.  
Michael gingerly pulled the sketchpad closer and set to opening it.  
While he examined the pages, the other three peering as well, Valeri pretended to be busy re-arranging her markers.  
"Some of these look somewhat familiar…"  
"They're Digimon, some of them."  
"No. Like the style. There's this girl…wait. Beelzemon did say he came from our town, didn't he? And he's your Partner?" His expression looked as if something suddenly clicked into place in his mind. "You're from my town, too, aren't you?"  
Valeri pinched her lips together and leaned down, putting her face in her hands. Here it comes…  
"Oh! You're that one girl. I'm not sure why I didn't think about it before. My brother brought home a page of your art as a trophy-"  
"One girl?" Nicoli interrupted, looking confused.  
"She-"  
Beelzemon suddenly leaned over the booth, putting his hands on Valeri's shoulders in a protective manner. "You say _one_ more thing, and I will rip out your tongue!" he snarled at the unsuspecting dark-haired male.  
Michael pressed his back against the booth, looking startled and frightened.  
"Hey! Leave him alone." Betamon moved to stand in front of his Tamer, puffing himself up to look more threatening.  
"Shut it, pipsqueak."  
"Calm down, both of you," Nicoli said, putting a hand on Betamon's back. "Just what is going on?"  
A look of relief washed over the dark-haired male suddenly.  
Two sunflowmon carrying trays, one of food and one of drinks, came up to the table.  
"Here we are!" one chirped, its voice revealing it as the server from before.  
The food and drinks were quickly handed to their respective orderees and the Sunflowmon fluttered off to see to other customers.  
Valeri moved herself and her food to the booth Beelzemon resided in, feeling too uncomfortable with the other Tamers.  
The pair were conversing in hushed tones.  
"You wanna just go on without them?"  
"I don't think Michael really meant anything bad…"  
"If he knows who you are, he knows how they treat you! Hell, even he could been one of those kids."  
"He seemed too interested in seeing my art to be like that. Besides. Don't you think it would be better to travel with a group? You're still injured and they know the area."  
"I can get you there just fine."  
"I know you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it."  
Beelzemon heaved a low sigh. "All right. _But._ The moment you feel uncomfortable, we're leaving."  
She nodded.

After breakfast had concluded, the group made their way to the train station and boarded a Franken Trailmon.  
They had managed to find an empty car and settled themselves in the seats.  
Serena was sitting huddled in the corner of her seat with headphones in to drown out the rest of the group; the music could be heard to the end of the car.  
"Is she normally this…anti-social?"  
The teenage males exchanged glances.  
"From what I remember, yeah."  
Nicoli gave a slight nod. "She likes to keep to herself."  
"Why the sudden interest?"  
"She's just been quiet this whole time, except for the argument."  
"That's actually pretty normal."  
"Hm…" She looked down at her hands.  
Michael spoke hesitantly: "Uhm…Valeri?"  
"Yes?"  
"I…" He stopped and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about earlier. I really wasn't thinking."  
"It's uhm…it's okay. I've kinda gotten used to being 'that girl…'"  
Nicoli lifted an eyebrow. "If I may be so bold to ask: what does that mean?"  
Michael kept a wary on the Mega Viral as he spoke. "At school, the teenagers are rather…unaccepting on things they don't believe is normal."  
"And Valeri isn't perceived as normal?"  
He shook his head. "No."  
"I'm a tom-boy who creates monsters." she concluded in a bitter tone.  
"Do you mean, you make Digimon?" Candlemon asked, looking thoroughly confused.  
"No. I draw."  
"Oh! Like you drew Betamon?"  
She nodded.  
"Hm," Nicoli folded his arms. "So, because of these qualities, they have treated you harshly."  
Valeri over-turned her palms to look at the thin lines her skin still bore. "Yes, you could say that." She clenched her fingers into fists and hid them between her legs.  
Nicoli got up from his seat and came to sit beside Valeri. "Do not let what others fear hold you back from what you hold dear. You seem to love drawing, and are quite talented. Don't let that go to waste."  
"Do…do you really think so?"  
"I don't just think so. I mean, look at your work. The line-work is well done, your use of color pallets and shading is well thought out."  
"I can't draw humanoids much."  
"You don't have to down yourself, just for that. No true artist was ever able to master everything at once."  
One of her shoulders moved up and down slightly.  
"And a person in any field always feels their work is less than acceptable."  
Valeri pulled lightly the edge of her shorts. "Thank you, Nicoli." Her voice held an underlying tone of annoyance to it.  
Nicoli seemed to pick up on the hint. He gave a short nod and moved back to his own seat.  
"I'm going out for air," Serena announced suddenly, hopping up from her seat. "And you stay here!" She whirled on her Partner, who was already getting up to follow.  
The pink bird Digimon's face turned crestfallen and she sat back down.  
Serena threw open the door and left the cart.  
Valeri eased herself from her seat and went to follow the other teenager.  
Michael partially stood up. "V-Valeri, where are you going?"  
She threw an exasperated look over her shoulder before closing the door.  
Beelzemon stood up and stretched. When he finished stretching, he spoke: "You stop houndin' her," He pointed a warning claw at Michael. "She's my Tamer. She's _nothing_ to you."  
"Erm. Er…sorry…"  
"Sorry doesn't cut it."  
"Calm down, Beelzemon. Yes, it was not right of Michael to ask where she was off to, but he is also the leader of our group, he is accustomed to making sure our group is fine."  
"She's clearly fine, she left for a minute. It's none of his concern." Beelzemon said, barely attempting to keep the snarl from his tone.  
Nicoli nodded. "No it wasn't. But I don't think she would appreciate you being this aggressive."  
The Mega Viral growled in annoyance and sat back down, throwing one leg over the other and stuffing his arms together against his chest.  
Serena and Valeri returned a short time later, sitting in their respective places.


	18. Industrial District Mayhem

Valeri looked around in surprise when she heard the squealing of the tires as they ground to a halt. "What…why are we stopping?"

The group looked out the windows.

"The District is right up ahead, why did we…?"

A sudden explosion caused them to cry out in surprise as it rocked the Trailmon.

"It looks like the District is under attack!"

Michael and Nicoli quickly gathered their belongings and Partners before hurrying towards the exit. Serena and Biyomon followed after.

"Should we go, too?"

"Yeah, no good staying here."

The pair made their way off the Trailmon in pursuit of the other Tamers.

Tremors from the falling buildings rattled the ground, making it more difficult to keep their footing.

A large mass of Digimon were pouring out in different directions, away from the main station and hub of the District.

"Tamer, you there!"

The voice caused Valeri to whirl around. She looked up at the Franken Trailmon.

"Hey, yeah, I'm talking to you!"

"What is it?"

"I can't go in any further due to damage to the tracks ahead, if you can, try to get as many Digimon into the carts behind me, I can run backwards to take them to safety."

Valeri nodded and took off at a dead run to catch up to Michael and the others, Beelzemon close behind.

Michael and Nicoli were already rounding up any Digimon that came their way.

"Michael, the Trailmon said to hurry the Digimon into its carts, it will see them away from here."

The darker haired male nodded. "The others are out trying to stop the fires from spreading. One of the locals said that a large tank nearby is full of oil."

"What should we do?"

"Help gather up any stragglers. With such a big population here, some are bound to be left behind. Just be careful."

Beelzemon grabbed on to his Tamer's shoulder as she made to leave. "No way, you stay here with them. I'll go check around."

She took a step back. "It will be better if we both go. I have my D-Arc." She held up the device as she spoke.

The Mega Viral gave a huff of annoyance. "Fffiiineee…just make sure you stay right by me!"

She took hold of his wrist with her free hand. "I will."

This took Beelzemon by surprise. He attempted to hide his embarrassment by turning away. "Okay, let's go."

All throughout the District, rubble, chunks of broken buildings and other items littered the streets and sidewalks. The air was filled with plumes of smoke, a mixture of the sounds of screams, crackling fire and explosions.

"This place looks awful."

"Looks like a warzone or somethin'. Keep close, there's no telling what's gonna fall."

Valeri nodded and moved in closer to her Partner.

They made their way carefully through the street, checking around for any straggling Digimon residents.

Not far ahead, Beelzemon spotted a small group of In-Training Digimon standing beside a particularly large chunk of metal. "Look, there's some In-Training over there."

"But why are they just standing around?"

"They're not. It looks like they're trying to attack that chunk of metal."

"Hm." Valeri quickened her pace.

The closer they became, the better they could see that the Mega had been correct; identified as Frimon, Kyokyomon, Missimon and DemiVeemon.

The four small Digimon were using their minimal abilities to attack the metal.

"They're way too weak to do anything to that, it's a Digizoid metal."

"Beelzemon, look! There's something trapped under there!"

"Eh?"

A turquoise furred Digimon sporting a facial mask adorned with a flame design was sticking out from under the metal, seemingly unconscious.

When the pair neared, the small In-Training surrounded the Flamedramon protectively.

Valeri held up her D-Arc. "We're friends, we just want to help."

"Helps?" the little turquoise-furred DemiVeemon squeaked questionably.

She nodded.

It pointed to the unconscious Digimon with a nubby paw. "Helps bruvver get out!" it squeaked urgently.

Valeri looked to her Partner. "Do you think we can get him out?"

Beelzemon cracked his knuckles. "It won't be easy. I can do it, if you can help pull him out."

"Should I go get Michael or Nicoli?"

"No, it'll waste more time. If we're gonna do it, we've got to right now," He cast a quick glance around. "There's enemies nearby."

Valeri moved closer to the unconscious Digimon and knelt down. She carefully placed a hand on its snout.

The Flamedramon let out a small groan and its eyes fluttered open. "Wh-owwww…Urg. Who…wait," Its eyes grew wide as a realization struck. "No! You have to get the In-Training out of here, now!"

"Bruvver, can't leaves you!" The DemiVeemon hugged the facial mask of the Flamedramon.

"It's too dangerous!"

The other In-Training made noises of disagreement.

"It seems they don't want to leave without you."

Beelzemon knelt down, feeling around for a place to dig his claws into. Upon finding one, he braced himself for the upcoming strain. "All righty, big guy. Let's get this going."

"No, please. Just leave me. Take them and run. The building this came from is unstable, it could fall any minute."

The DemiVeemon let out a loud wail and clung harder to the helmet, pressing its face against the metal.

The other In-Training joined in, making loud distressing noises.

"You aren't helping, pipsqueaks!" Beelzemon snarled.

Valeri shot him a warning glare before turning a sympathetic look to the In-Training. She reached out and pet on the DemiVeemon's head. "Hush, hush now. Crying won't help your brother. You're going to attract the big mean bad-guys."

"Can't leaves bruvver…"

"We won't leave him, it'll be all right. But the best you can do right now is stay quiet or-"

"Giga Destroyer II!"

Valeri turned in time to see a missile fly overhead, directly into the building beside them.

The explosion was deafening. It tore through the wall that was still intact, crumbling it into pieces.

Valeri quickly snatched up the DemiVeemon, pressing it protectively to her, and huddled the other In-Training to her.

Beelzemon hurried to protect Valeri and the other Digimon the best that he was able; his back took the brunt of the smaller debris.

"Above you!"

Beelzemon looked up.

A larger chunk of metal was hurtling towards them.

"Dammit." He braced himself and held up his hands in an attempt to catch it. The Viral grunted as he caught the metal. It sent a jarring pain rocketing down his arms and throughout the rest of his body. He had to move his hands to let it rest against his shoulders, where he could brace it better.

"Beelzemon!"

"I'm…fine. This damn thing is heavy." he managed to say through labored breaths.

"Oh, thank goodness…"

"C'mon, move!"

"R-right!" Valeri ushered the other In-Training out from under the chunk's reach and made to move herself.

The In-Trainings' squeals of fear made the pair look up.

"Great!" The Viral hissed in anger at the sight of a large android dinosaur-like Digimon.

"Oh, no, MetalTyrannomon." Flamedramon struggled against the metal that pinned it.

"Val, get 'em outta here, now!"

"But you-"

"Get going!"

"Bruvver!"

Flamedramon raised one of its armored hands. An aura of fire surrounded it. "It'll be okay, Demi. Just get them out of here!"

"B-but…"

Flamedramon pointed the flames at the approaching MetalTyrannomon. "Fire Rocket!"

With extreme accuracy, the fire hurtled into the MetalTyrannomon's chestplate.

To the group's dismay, the android Digimon was unphased.

Valeri turned to her Partner. "Can you throw that at it?"

Beelzemon shook his head. "It's too heavy!"

"There's no way we can run and escape it, it's too close."

"Have to stop the bad-guy, save bruvver and fwiends!" DemiVeemon hopped out of Valeri's arms to stand its ground against the Ultimate android Digimon.

"No, come back, Demi!" Flamedramon called out, scrabbling at the ground in a desperate attempt to stop its brother. "Come back!"

The Frimon mewed in fear, the frill around its head lowering over the top of its furry body.

The other In-Training crowded around Valeri's legs, stopping her from going after their friend.

Valeri attempted to step over the Kyokyomon as its main body was lower but it had slowly floated upwards, making it nearly impossible. "Guys, guys, get out of the way!"

"Stay 'way from scary-thing!" Kyokyomon squeaked.

"But what about…"

MetalTyrannomon stopped just short of the tiny blue-furred Digimon.

DemiVeemon took a few steps back before rushing forward to ram its head into the other Digimon's foot. It rebounded off MetalTyrannomon's toe and fell upon its back, its small feet flailing in the air. "Urg."

The Digimon emitted a noise akin to laughter and lifted its foot up.

"No!"

DemiVeemon covered its face with its tiny paws.

"Oh no you don't, you big piece of junk!"

A large red blur bounded in, slamming into the MetalTyrannomon's side and sending it flying in the opposite direction.

Coming to a stop, the blur revealed itself to be a large red dragon-like Digimon with a human on its back.

Valeri realized at once who it was. "Doru!"

As the Dorugreymon neared, the human, a male in his late teens with dark chestnut curls and a deep complexion, waved at the group. "Val!"

"Jered, hi."

"Hello, Valeri, it's great to see you again. Though the circumstances could have been less dire." as Dorugreymon spoke, he lowered his neck so his face was more level with Valeri.

She threw her arms around the top of his snout, avoiding the curving blade between his nostrils. "I'm so happy to see you!"

A loud rumbling purr came from the large Digimon. "As I am to see you! But shouldn't we be going? It's dangerous here."

"Yes, yes. You're right. Could you help Beelzemon?"

"Most certainly."

"Lemme off first, Doru."

Dorugreymon leaned his body forwards, putting his front legs into a kneeling position to allow his Tamer to slide off from his back.

Jered stooped down to help DemiVeemon back onto its feet. "There we go, little guy."

"Thankies, Je-Je!" it squeaked before hopping back towards Flamedramon.

"Je-Je and Dor-Dor saves us!" Frimon meowed happily, waving its long tail around in the air like a happy kitten.

The other two voiced their agreement and moved to crowd around Jered.

Valeri turned to watch Dorugreymon as he looked over the predicament of the pair of trapped Digimon.

"Hm. This part is going to be easy…Flamedramon's won't be as easy."

"Any chance you could speed this up?"

"Indeed." The large red dragon Digimon whirled quickly, lashing at the metal with his tail.

It made clean contact with the middle, sending it hurtling off into the distance.

Relieved of his burden, the Mega Viral collapsed.

Valeri rushed to his side. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, fine." He placed a hand on his bandaged stomach.

Valeri's eyes trailed down. She gasped audibly when she realized that the bandages were tinged with blotches of pink. "Oh, no. You tore open your wounds."

Beelzemon shook his head. "I'm fine." He carefully got to his feet, Valeri rising with him.

Dorugreymon turned to Flamedramon. "All right, now for you."

"Get bruvver out?" DemiVeemon asked, hope radiating from its tiny voice.

"Yes."

"Yay!"

"So how you figure we're gonna do this?"

"Do you wish to give me assistance?"

Beelzemon shrugged. "Might as well, I'd already started on it before we were interrupted."

Dorugreymon nodded. "As you wish. Please don't strain yourself further. I'm not entirely sure if we can lift this, as I don't have actual hands and arms."

"I can lift it up, not much though."

"Hm. This is Digizoid metal, so I don't think my attacks will bother it much."

"But the MetalTyrannomon's rocket broke it."

"That may be so, but that is because its weapons were created specifically to deal with it. The Viral lord who resides nearby has been attacking the District to try to confiscate parts from it for some time. So they have re-designed their androids to be able to cause destruction to the Digizoid buildings."

"They're causing a lot of issues," Jered said in agreement. "We just happened to be coming in for a quick stop when the attack happened…speaking of that. Valeri, what are _you_ doing here? I really thought I'd never see you again!"

"Oh, um. Well…" A small blush flushed her face. "I just wanted to get away for awhile. All I remembered of the Digital World was this place. So I asked Beelzemon to bring me here."

"So who is this Beelzemon?" Jered pulled his D-Arc from his side pocket and examined the holographic image and information it showed. "Hm. Virus attribute. Mega level. I'm rather surprised to see a Mega."

Beelzemon shot the curly-haired teenager a look of annoyance. "Hey, I worked really hard on getting this far."

"So who are you, exactly? I know you don't live here."

"Sure don't."

"He's my Partner." Valeri said with a small smile.

Jered's hazel eyes lit up. "You, a Tamer? That's so awesome! How did he get to Mega?"

The group looked around in surprise when they felt the ground rumble beneath them.

Jered grasped onto Valeri's wrist. "We need to leave!"

"We can't, what about Flamedramon?"

"Val, the Digis can take care of themselves-"

An amplified, crackling voice spoke out suddenly. "Found you, you little meat-bags!"

The In-Training Digimon screamed in fear and hurried to stand by Dorugreymon as a large, fully android Digimon appeared from behind a nearby building, flanked by a pair Digimon that looked similar to mechs, with long metal arms and a blue cockpit on the top of their heads.

"Oh shit, oh shit, ohhhh no!" Jered pulled Valeri closer, hugging her to him in his panic.

Valeri pushed on his chest. "J-Jered, let go!"

"Valeri, we can't stay here, that's Machinedramon! You don't even understand, he's way stronger than we are right now!"

Beelzemon gestured to Dorugreymon. "What, can't Digivolve Doru here to Mega?"

"No, I've never been able to."

"Huh, welp...we're in a bit of a pickle, then. Even as a Mega, I'm still weak from a certain psycho woman's idea to delete me."

"Serena just thought you were a threat."

"Like hell I was! She tried to kill me for nothing!"

Dorugreymon slammed his tail on the ground, causing the rest to look his way. "Fighting and fussing over things right now is not going to help us. We need to get moving now before Machinedramon decides to attack."

"Bruvver, must helps him, too!"

"Dammit, fine, we'll make this super quick. Just grab 'im when I get it far enough up." Beelzemon swiftly moved into position before the others could argue.

Dorugreymon lowered his neck. He took the exposed portion of Flamedramon's torso in his jaws as gently as he was able.

While the Mega Viral worked on lifting the large chunk of metal, Valeri and Jered kept watch on Machinedramon.

For some strange reason, the large android Digimon was not advancing. Rather, it seemed to be observing them.

"What is Machinedramon doing?"

"Waiting for a good time to strike," Jered replied solemnly. "Machinedramon does not have any sympathy or the like. He takes great pride in causing destruction. I'm guessing he's going to wait until Flamedramon is free before burying us all."

"That sounds so awful! What should we do?"

"Nothing to do but wait."

The In-Training were cheering on the Viral as he put in every effort to raise the object.

It took several moments more before Dorugreymon was pulling on the Flamedramon's body, inching it out from the trap.

The little DemiVeemon was bobbing on the tips of its feet, clapping happily.

Jered turned to his Partner. "Dor! Get that Flamedramon up quick! We need to flee right now. Machinedramon will attack as soon as he realizes the Armored one is free."

"What of the others?" Dorugreymon said around the armor in his mouth.

"I'll get them bunched up and me and Val can carry the ones that won't be that fast." He turned to Valeri.

"Uhm, which should we get?"

"The Frimon and DemiVeemon. Perhaps the Kyokyomon. They tend to not fly quickly. But the Missimon can get itself out of harm's way quite easily. You just stayed to be with your friends, didn't you?"

The Missimon's body bobbed up and down slightly in agreement to the question.

"Flamedramon will be free in a few moments. You need to leave. Your friends will be close behind with us." Jered stooped and picked up DemiVeemon as he spoke to the small machine-type In-Training.

The Frimon made its way to Valeri and rubbed its furry cheek on her leg. "Mrr."

She carefully lifted the yellow ball of fluff and situated it in her arms, readjusting its long tail so it was not in her face.

The Frimon made a happy chirping noise and snapped at its tail as it moved.

"I can goes with Missimon." Kyokyomon said with a nod of its head. Using its arms and feet, it made its way through the air towards its friend.

"Just be careful. There's a gathering at the south side of the District. Several Trailmon are there to take the Digimon to the nearby Forge."

After giving acknowledgement, the pair of In-Training took off in the direction indicated.

With a quick twist of his neck, Dorugreymon pulled Flamedramon free. In the same movement, he placed the injured Digimon upon his back.

The metal fell with a crash as Beelzemon released it.

The Mega Viral, fully spent, collapsed against the object.

"Beelzemon!" Valeri rushed to her Partner's side. "Beelzemon, are you all right?" A quick once-over revealed he was unconscious. "Oh, no. He over did himself. He's out cold. Doru!"

"Yes, yes, one moment." Dorugreymon carefully took the Viral by his torso and made to set him on his back next to the Flamedramon.

She patted his leg. "Thank you, Doru."

"Most certainly, Valeri. Are we sure that the pair of you will run on foot? I can most certainly try to carry everyone else. I'm not that small."

"If you've room, I suppose it's fine, whatever is fastest. I think Machinedramon's coming."

Dorugreymon lowered himself, bringing around his tail to act as a step up.

"Val, you go up first."

Valeri stepped up onto the twisted tail. She placed Frimon onto Dorugreymon's back before climbing up after it. Once safely adjusted, she pulled the legless Digimon onto her lap.

Jered quickly followed suit.

DemiVeemon clamored out of the human's arms to jump onto the Flamedramon's leg. It patted at the metal mask on the other's face. "Bruvver, I's happy you safe."

Flamedramon wrapped its arm about the smaller Digimon. "I really wish you would listen to me more often, Demi. But I'm glad you're safe as well. Thank you all for helping us."

"Don't mention it, Flamedramon. There's no way we'd leave any fellows behind."

Flamedramon gave a nod in Jered's direction. "Jered, your timing was impeccable. Had you and Dorugreymon not shown up when you did, we would be all the worse off."

Jered laughed and waved his hand dismissively. "It's really no problem. Not for all the things you guys have done for us in the past."

Dorugreymon started off at a quick trot in the direction the Trailmon were located while the small group talked.

Valeri took the opportunity to give her Partner another once-over. The bandages were completely soaked through with scarlet, some areas were changing to a deeper color as it dried. "Crap…he really tore them open again."

"What's the matter, Val?"

"Beelzemon tore open his wounds again, he's bled through his bandages."

"'Again?' Oh yes, he mentioned something earlier."

"Yes…Serena, one of the Tamers from my new town, had attacked him about a week ago. At the time we weren't Partnered, so she saw him as a threat."

"That really sucks. So he was a Mega before you were Partnered? Hm…was hoping you had helped him do it, so you could tell me."

"No, sorry, Jered."

"Giga Cannon!"

Several large orbs flew overhead, slamming into the upcoming buildings.

"Oh, no!"

Dorugreymon tried his best to dodge the crumbling buildings as they were continually assaulted by more orbs.

The pair of mecha-like Digimon were quickly gaining ground on the running Dorugreymon.

"We're going to be surrounded!"

"Dor, can't you go any faster?"

The dragon-like Digimon snorted. "Oh, yes, just let me turn on overdrive...it's not as if I'm trying to carry all of you."

"Sorry, bud, just thought I'd ask."

"I can try to hold them off." Flamedramon held up its armored hands, pointing one at each of the Mekanorimon.

"Go bruvver, go! Make those mean 'ol 'chines scrap!"

"Fire Rocket!"

Though they looked bulky, the Mekanorimon nimbly dodged the fire thrown at them.

"Useless pieces of scrap!" Flamedramon growled and continued his attempts.

The red optic on one of the Mekanorimon's chest began to glow.

"Head's up!"

"Huh?"

Before Dorugreymon could react, a laser shot from the mecha android Digimon's optic and made contact with his flank.

This sent the dragon-type Digimon sprawling, throwing his passengers off onto a broken sidewalk.

Valeri lost her hold of the Frimon, who managed to roll away. She moved on her hands and knees to the fallen Dorugreymon. "D-Doru, are you okay?" Her hands ran over his flank, noting the small scorch mark from the laser.

Dorugreymon's eyes opened and he lifted his head slightly. "Y-yes, the blast just injured my leg a little - Val, look out!"

Valeri yelped in surprise as a pair of metal digits closed around her. She wriggled, to no avail.

The Mekanorimon turned to face the other one, allowing Valeri to see that it had hold of Jered.

"Let go of me! Gurh."

Valeri managed to cast a side glance towards where her Partner had fallen before the mechas started their march away from the area.


End file.
